,  .    .o: 
• 


GEORGE   CANNING 


GEORGE   CANNING    AS   A    BOY 

(IN    FANCY   DRESS) 
From  tJu  picture  by  Gainsborough  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquess  of  Cla 


GEORGE  CANNING 


BY 

W.  ALISON   PHILLIPS 


NEW  YORK 

E.    P.    DUTTON    &    CO. 
1903 


PREFACE 

JN  preparing  this  little  book  I  have  used  prin- 
cipally Stapleton's  Political  Life  of  George 
Canning  (1831),  Stapleton's  George  Canning  and 
hiit  Times  (1835),  Bell's  Life  of  Canning  and  the 
memoir  prefixed  to  Therry's  edition  of  Canning's 
speeches  (1828).  Much  of  Canning's  official 
correspondence  is  contained  in  the  Supplementary 
Despatches  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  to  which 
may  be  added  Mr.  E.  J.  Stapleton's  Some  Official 
Correspondence  of  George  Canning  (1887). 

To  the  kindness  of  the  Countess  of  Cork  and 
Orrery  I  am  indebted  for  the  permission  to 
republish  the  Lines  addressed  to  Miss  Scott  before 
Marriage,  while  I  have  to  thank  the  Marquis  of 
Clanricarde  for  allowing  me  to  reproduce  the 
beautiful  portrait  by  Gainsborough  of  George 
Canning  as  a  boy,  and  the  Earl  of  Crewe  for 
permission  to  include  the  interesting  picture  by 
Hickel  of  Canning  as  a  young  man. 

W.  A.  P. 


2081358 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

EARLY  YEARS i 

The  Canning  family — George  Canning  the  elder — Can- 
ning's mother — Canning  at  Eton — The  Microcosm — 
At  Oxford. 

CHAPTER   II 
PITT  AND  CANNING  -       -       .'-•„'.       .       -      15 

Canning  and  the  Whigs — The  French  Revolution — He 
enters  Parliament — His  maiden  speech — Character  of 
his  eloquence — Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
— Bonaparte  and  the  Revolutionary  Wars — Policy  of 
Pitt — Canning  and  the  new  Humanitarianism — The 
Anti-Jacobin — The  Coup  (U Etat  of  i8th  Brumaire. 


CHAPTER   II J 
CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION       •       •       -       -      37 

Grattan's  Parliament — The  Rebellion  of  1798— Pitt  and 
Ireland — The  Union  proposed— Canning  and  the 
Union— The  question  of  Catholic  Emancipation- 
Resignation  of  Pitt, 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    IV 

PAGE 

THE  DEATH  OF  PITT 48 

Marriage — Canning  and  Addington — Speech  on  the  island 
of  Trinidad  (Slave  Trade) — Canning  an  Irish  member 
—The  Peace  of  Amiens — Pitt's  last  Administration — 
Napoleon  Emperor  of  the  French — The  new  Coalition 
— Battles  of  Trafalgar,  and  Austerlitz— Death  of  Pitt 
— "Ministry  of  all  the  Talents" — Death  of  Fox — 
Portland  Administration — Canning  at  the  Foreign 
Office. 

CHAPTER   V 

AT  THE   FOKEIGN   OFFICE 66 

Napoleon  and  Alexander — Treaty  of  Tilsit — Bombardment 
of  Copenhagen — The  Continental  Blockade — England 
and  the  United  States — Napoleon  and  Spain — The 
Peninsular  War — The  Walcheren  Expedition — Can- 
ning's duel  with  Castlereagh. 

CHAPTER  VI 
CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  So 

Canning  and  Journalism — His  poems — Madness  of  George 
III. — The  Regency  question — Murder  of  Perceval — 
Lord  Liverpool  Premier — Canning  refuses  office — 
Catholic  Emancipation  —  Member  for  Liverpool  — 
Canning  and  Parliamentary  Reform — Free  Trade — 
Speech  on  the  prosecution  of  the  war — Embassy  to 
Lisbon — President  of  the  Board  of  Control. 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  VII 

PAGE 

AFTER  THE  PEACE     98 

Castlereagh  and  the  European  Alliance— Condition  of 
England— Canning  and  democracy— The  Six  Acts — 
Personal  incidents — Death  of  George  III. — Queen 
Caroline  —  Resignation  of  Canning  —  Offer  of  the 
Governor-Generalship  of  India — Suicide  of  London- 
derry— Canning  returns  to  the  Foreign  Office. 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  AFFAJRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL         -       -       -    116 

Congress  of  Verona — Canning  and  the  European  Alliance 
— The  doctrine  of  Non-intervention — Ferdinand  VII. 
and  the  Spanish  Liberals — Attitude  of  France — Eng- 
land and  the  Spanish  colonies— French  invasion  of 
Spain — Troubles  in  Portugal — Intervention  of  Great 
Britain— Canning  and  the  Monroe  doctrine — Recogni- 
tion of  the  South  American  Republics — Speech  on 
the  British  intervention  in  Portugal. 

CHAFFER  IX 
THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE     ....    143 

The  ' '  Eastern  question  "  and  the  Continental  Alliance — 
Insurrection  in  Greece — Metternich  and  Alexander  I. 
— Canning  and  the  Greek  question — The  Flag  of 
Greece  recognised — Intervention  of  Mehemet  Ali — 
Death  of  Alexander  I. — Mission  of  Wellington  to  St. 
Petersburg— The  ' '  Protocol  of  St.  Petersburg  " — 
Canning  and  Nicholas  I.— Appeal  of  the  Greeks  to 
Great  Britain — Conference  of  London — The  Treaty 
of  London. 

b 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   X 

PAGE 

PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH 166 

Split  in  the  Tory  Cabinet— The  Free  Trade  party— The 
"Reciprocity  of  Duties  Act" — Canning's  rhymed 
despatch  —  Illness  of  Lord  Liverpool  —  Canning's 
motion  on  the  Corn  Laws — Canning  at  the  head  of  a 
Coalition  Government — Illness  and  death. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

George  Canning  as  a  Boy  (from  the  Picture  by  Gains- 
borough in  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Clanricarde) 

Frontispiece 

George  Canning  (after  Hoppner)        .        .        .to  face  p.     18 
George  Canning  (from  an  Engraving  by  B.  Lane)  to  face  p.     49 
George  Canning  as  a  Young  Man  (from  the  Picture  by 
A.  Hickel  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Crewe) 

to  face  p.     66 
Lord  Castlereagh  (from  the  Portrait  by  Lawrence  in  the 

National  Portrait  Gallery)  .  .  .to  face  p.  78 
Interior  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1812  .  to  face  p.  91 
George  Canning  (from  an  Engraving  by  Wm.  Say  after  the 

Portrait  by  Lawrence)  .  .  .  .to  face  p.  Ill 
George  Canning  (from  an  Engraving  by  Turner  after  the 

Portrait  by  Lawrence)  .  .  .  .to  face  p.  166 
The  Great  Battle  for  the  Championship  between  Black 

George  and  Dubious  Jack .  .  .  .to  face  p.  170 
"The  Struggle,"  or  a  Long  Pull,  a  Strong  Pull  and  a  Pull 

All  Together to  face  p.    171 

The  Rats  at  the  Corn          .     ".        .        ..-  .    .    to  face  p.   172 
A  Head  for  the  Cabinet to  face  p.    174 


GEORGE  CANNING 

CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  YEARS 

The  Canning  family — George  Canning  the  elder — Canning's 
mother — Canning  at  Eton — The  Microcosm — At  Oxford. 

THE  family  of  Canning  is  of  a  respectable 
antiquity,  and  characteristically  British. 
To  nobility  of  blood,  in  that  narrower  sense  which 
confines  this  virtue  to  the  offshoots  of  the  peerage, 
it  could  lay  no  claim ;  but  for  centuries  it  had  en- 
joyed that  mysterious  quality  of  distinction  which 
is  inseparably  associated  with  the  possession  of  real 
estate.  The  original  seat  of  the  race,  indeed,  at 
Bishop's  Cannynges,  in  Wiltshire,  devolving  upon 
two  coheiresses,  passed  from  the  name  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VII.  Long  before  this,  however, 
when  Edward  II.  was  King,  a  cadet  of  the  family 
setting  out — as  the  custom  was  for  younger  sons 
of  country  gentlemen  in  England — to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  trade,  had  established  at  Bristol  a  branch 
of  the  Cannynges,  which  was  destined  in  time  to 
overshadow  the  parent  stem.  Under  Edward  III. 
1 


2  GEORGE  CANNING 

William  Cannyinge  was  six  times  Mayor  of  Bristol, 
and  six  times  represented  the  city  in  Parliament. 
His  descendants  continued  to  be  notable  citizens 
of  the  second  city  in  England  until,  in  the  fifth 
generation,  Thomas  Cannynge  regained  territorial 
rank  for  his  branch  of  the  family  by  marrying  the 
heiress  of  the  Le  Marshalls  of  Foxcote,  in  War- 
wickshire. Here  the  family  continued,  in  digni- 
fied obscurity,  down  to  our  own  days.  Again  it 
was  a  junior  branch  which  was  destined  to  out- 
grow the  elder.  In  the  year  1618  King  James  I. 
granted  to  George,  youngest  son  of  Richard  Can- 
ning of  Foxcote,  the  manor  of  Garvagh,  in  Ireland. 
Here,  for  six  generations,  the  Cannings  continued, 
through  good  and  evil  fortune,  to  represent  that 
stern  principle  of  Protestant  ascendency  to  which 
they  had  owed  their  position  in  the  country. 
Then  came  a  change,  as  unexpected  as  it  was  un- 
welcome. Infected  by  I  know  not  what  quality 
in  the  Irish  atmosphere,  which  has  proved  fatal  to 
so  much  Macchiavellian  statecraft,  by  tending  to 
make  Teutonic  Irishmen  more  Celtic  than  the 
Celts,  George,  eldest  son  of  Stratford  Canning  of 
Garvagh,  revolted  from  the  traditions  of  his  race. 
Confused  by  a  vivid  imagination,  he  lost  himself  in 
those  attractive  mists  of  political  idealism  which  at 
that  time  were  beginning  to  spread  over  Europe 
from  their  birthplace  on  the  abstract  heights  of 
the  Paris  salons.  In  short,  he  adopted  democratic 


EARLY  YEARS  3 

principles  ;  and  to  this  crime,  so  unpardonable  by 
a  parent  of  stern  character  and  just  views,  he 
added  another,  hardly  less  heinous,  by  falling  in 
love  with  an  attractive,  but  wholly  ineligible, 
young  woman.  For  a  conscientious  father  there 
was  but  one  course  open.  George  Canning  was 
dismissed  from  the  paternal  roof. 

The  unfortunate  young  man  elected  to  carry 
once  more  across  the  Channel  the  fortunes  of  the 
Cannings;  and  these  for  the  moment  looked  un- 
promising enough.  He  was  endowed  by  nature 
with  every  amiable  quality  that  makes  for  ill  suc- 
cess, and  by  his  father  with  an  allowance  of  £150 
a  year.  In  1757  he  settled  in  London,  entered 
the  Middle  Temple,  and  was,  in  due  course,  called 
to  the  Bar.  But,  for  a  youth  of  his  temperament, 
the  law  had  less  than  no  attraction.  He  preferred 
to  spend  his  time  writing  political  pamphlets, 
under  the  fashionable  form  of  "  Epistles  "  to  men 
of  eminence,  or  in  the  composition  of  verses 
which  were  as  rich  in  lofty  sentiment  as  they  were 
poverty-stricken  in  nearly  every  quality  of  art. 
These  activities,  though  sometimes  gratifying  to 
his  vanity,  added  nothing  to  his  purse.  More- 
over, being  attractive  and  sociable,  he  had  been 
admitted  to  the  intimacy  of  several  of  the  leaders 
of  his  own  political  persuasion ;  and  since,  in  the 
days  of  Wilkes  and  Sheridan,  Spartan  simplicity 
was  not  as  yet  associated  with  the  profession  of 


4  GEORGE  CANNING 

Radical  opinions,  his  expenditure  soon  exceeded 
his  income,  and  he  fell  hopelessly  into  debt.  This 
was  the  opportunity  for  which  his  father  had  been 
waiting.  Mr.  Canning,  intent  on  saving  Garvagh 
from  passing  to  one  who  would  make  it  a  centre 
of  destructive  propaganda,  consented  to  pay  his 
eldest  son's  debts  on  condition  of  his  joining  with 
him  in  cutting  off  the  entail,  and  so  becoming  a 
party  to  his  own  disinheritance.  The  luckless 
youth,  having  eaten  his  mess  of  pottage,  had  no 
choice  but  to  sell  his  birthright.  The  entail  was 
cut  off,  the  debts  were  paid,  and  George  Canning, 
thrown  once  more  upon  his  allowance  of  £150  a 
year,  resumed  his  old  inconsequent  mode  of  life, 
and  so  fell  rapidly  again  upon  evil  days.  Debts 
once  more  accumulated,  and  by  way  of  improving 
matters  he  could  think  of  nothing  better  than  to 
marry.  Unfortunately,  Miss  Costello,  though  the 
daughter  of  a  sufficiently  honourable  Irish  house, 
brought  as  her  only  dowry  charm  and  good  looks. 
To  the  Squire  of  Garvagh  this  was  the  last  straw. 
The  estate  had  already  been  settled  on  his  second 
son,  Paul.  With  his  eldest  son  he  would  hence- 
forth have  no  dealings,  beyond  the  regular  remit- 
tance of  the  stipulated  annuity. 

George  now,  under  the  dire  pressure  of  necessity, 
was  fain  to  exchange  his  unremunerative  Muse  for 
that  perennial  hope  of  the  destitute,  the  wine 
trade.  But  for  all  the  personal  popularity  of  the 


EARLY  YEARS  5 

young  couple,  George  Canning's  taste  in  wines  in- 
spired no  more  confidence  than  his  taste  in  poetry, 
and  the  new  venture  fared  as  ill  as  the  old.  The 
many-coloured  world  of  dreams  had  hardened  into 
the  dull  world  of  cruel  reality ;  and  life,  which 
had  begun  with  a  reckless  battle  for  impossible 
ideals,  had  shrunk  into  a  sordid  struggle  for  the 
means  to  live.  Under  these  unpromising  auspices, 
on  1 1th  April,  1770,  George  Canning,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir,  and  only  child  of  the  outcast  of  Gar- 
vagh,  was  born  into  the  world.  Exactly  a  year 
after  his  birth,  on  llth  April,  1771,  his  father,  worn 
out  by  anxiety  and  disappointment,  died ;  and 
with  him  passed  the  pitiful  allowance  of  £150, 
which  had  stood  between  him  and  absolute  ruin. 

Mrs.  Canning,  left  absolutely  without  means, 
with  great  spirit  determined  to  seek  a  livelihood  on 
the  stage.  The  influence  of  friends,  culminating 
in  royal  patronage,  procured  for  her  at  the  outset 
a  leading  part  at  Drury  Lane  with  David  Garrick  ; 
but  her  talents  were  unequal  to  the  place  she  had 
assumed,  and  when  the  momentary  success  won  by 
her  beauty  and  simplicity  had  passed,  she  rapidly 
sank  to  filling  minor  parts,  and  ultimately,  dis- 
appearing from  the  London  stage  altogether,  earned 
a  precarious  livelihood  in  provincial  theatres.  She 
soon,  however,  remarried,  her  second  husband  being 
the  actor  Reddish  ;  and  after  his  death  she  took  as 
her  husband  a  Mr.  Hunn,  a  wealthy  linen  draper 


6  GEORGE  CANNING 

and  amateur  of  Plymouth.  This  latter  step,  which 
had  seemed  to  end  her  pecuniary  troubles,  in  the 
end  only  added  to  them ;  for  the  linen  draper 
failed,  and  the  amateur  in  his  turn  had  to  attempt 
to  earn  a  living  on  the  boards.  When  he  too  died 
he  left  his  widow  with  three  more  children,  two 
daughters  and  a  son.  Since  this  lady,  for  reasons 
shortly  to  be  stated,  had  very  little  influence  in 
moulding  her  eldest  son's  career,  it  will,  perhaps, 
be  well  at  once  to  dismiss  her  from  the  story 
with  the  briefest  account  of  her  subsequent  fate. 
Happily,  the  rapid  rise  of  George  Canning  soon 
placed  him  in  a  position  where  he  was  able  to  give 
her  assistance,  which  he  did  with  characteristic 
generosity,  devoting  to  her  maintenance  the  whole 
of  the  pension  of  £500  to  which  he  became  entitled 
on  retiring  from  his  first  office  as  Under-Secretary 
of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs.  As  long  as  she  lived, 
indeed,  he  never  forgot  the  love  and  duty  he  owed 
to  her,  visiting  her,  as  often  as  public  affairs  per- 
mitted, in  her  retirement  at  Bath,  and  never  under 
any  circumstances  of  public  anxiety  or  work  for- 
getting to  write  to  her  once  a  week.  She  had  the 
happiness  of  living  to  see  her  son  Prime  Minister, 
and  of  dying  a  few  months  before  the  premature 
close  of  his  career. 

From  the  above  sketch  of  his  parentage  and 
birth,  it  is  clear  that  never  infant  came  into  this 
world  with  less  apparent  chances  of  carving  out  of 


EARLY  YEARS  7 

it  a  successful  career.  There  was,  however,  another 
side  to  the  picture.  That  the  boy  very  early  dis- 
played conspicuous  talent  would  perhaps  not  alone 
have  served  him  ;  for  talent  often  starves.  But  he 
possessed  a  sounder  basis  for  worldly  success  in 
an  influential  and  wealthy  uncle.  Mr.  Stratford 
Canning,  youngest  brother  of  the  unhappy  George, 
though  he  shared  to  a  certain  extent  the  latter's 
liberal  proclivities,  had  avoided  his  prodigality,  and, 
as  a  member  of  the  respectable  banking  firm  of 
French,  Burrows  &  Canning,  had  accumulated  a 
respectable  fortune.  This  gentleman,  learning 
from  the  actor  Moody  of  his  nephew's  precocious 
talents,  and  that  they  were  in  danger  of  running 
to  waste  in  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  pro- 
vincial green-rooms,  determined  to  withdraw  him 
from  the  guardianship  of  Reddish,  and  himself  to 
become  responsible  for  his  education.  The  offer 
was,  as  might  be  expected,  gratefully  accepted ; 
and  young  Canning  started  life  anew  under  con- 
ditions which  placed  no  obstacles  in  the  path  of  his 
ambition,  save  those  of  his  own  creation. 

There  is  no  need  to  linger  over  the  incidents 
of  Canning's  boyhood.  In  general  it  is  a  some- 
what colourless  record  of  unbroken  and  deliberate 
success.  When,  in  due  course,  he  passed  from 
the  preparatory  school  at  Winchester,  which  he 
had  attended,  to  Eton,  he  took  with  him  a  reputa- 
tion already  established  for  writing  elegant  verse 


8  GEORGE  CANNING 

both  in  Latin  and  English.  At  Eton,  then  even 
more  than  now  the  nursery  of  statesmen,  his 
activities  added  to  his  fame.  His  native  eloquence, 
already  brought  under  the  discipline  of  conscious 
art,  made  him  a  power  in  the  debating  club  ;  and 
in  the  school  paper,  the  Microcosm,  of  which  he 
was  editor,  he  "  marshalled  the  rising  talents  of 
that  celebrated  seminary  into  emulative  excel- 
lence ".  In  this  publication  he  certainly  displayed, 
if  not  genius,  at  any  rate  a  precocious  culture. 
His  wit,  which  in  after  days  was  to  bite  so  trench- 
antly, lacks,  indeed,  as  yet  the  fine  edge  which  a 
wider  experience  alone  could  give  ;  but  in  these 
youthful  effusions  the  leading  characteristics  of  his 
later  style  are  already  perfectly  represented.  The 
sonorous  periods  of  these  early  efforts  in  English 
prose  are  as  carefully  balanced,  and  furnished  with 
as  fine  a  Ciceronian  polish,  as  anything  produced  by 
his  later  years.  Of  his  verse  contributions,  too, 
one  at  least  has  been  found  worthy  of  inclusion  in 
more  than  one  anthology  of  Canning's  poetical 
works,  and — though  this  may-be  is  no  great  praise 
— it  more  than  holds  its  own  amongst  its  fellows. 
This  poem,  "The  Slavery  of  Greece,"  has,  in  view 
of  the  part  played  subsequently  by  its  author  in 
European  politics,  an  interest  quite  apart  from  its 
literary  qualities,  and  I  shall  therefore  quote  from 
it  sufficiently  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  its 
spirit  and  style  : — 


EARLY  YEARS 

THE  SLAVERY  OF  GREECE 

Unrivall'd  Greece  !  thou  ever  honour'd  name, 
Thou  nurse  of  heroes  dear  to  deathless  fame ! 
Though  now  to  worth,  to  honour  all  unknown, 
Thy  lustre  faded,  and  thy  glories  flown, 
Yet  still  shall  memory  with  reverted  eye 
Trace  thy  past  worth,  and  view  thee  with  a  sigh. 

Thee  freedom  cherish'd  once  with  fostering  hand, 

And  breathed  undaunted  valour  through  the  land. 

Here  the  stern  spirit  of  the  Spartan  soil 

The  child  of  poverty  inured  to  toil. 

Here  loved  by  Pallas  and  the  sacred  nine, 

Once  did  fair  Athens'  towery  glories  shine. 

To  bend  the  bow,  or  the  bright  falchion  wield, 

To  lift  the  bulwark  of  the  brazen  shield, 

To  toss  the  terror  of  the  whizzing  spear, 

The  conquering  standard's  glittering  glories  rear, 

And  join  the  maddening  battle's  loud  career, 

How  skilled  the  Greeks  ;  confess  what  Persians  slain 

Were  strew'd  on  Marathon's  ensanguined  plain  ; 

When  heaps  on  heaps  the  routed  squadrons  fell, 

And  with  their  gaudy  myriads  peopled  hell. 

on  Greece  each  science  shone, 
Here  the  bold  statue  started  from  the  stone  ; 
Here  warm  with  life  the  swelling  canvas  glow'd ; 
Here  big  with  thought  the  poet's  raptures  flow'd  ; 
Here  Homer's  lip  was  touch' d  with  sacred  fire  ; 
And  wanton  Sappho  tuned  her  amorous  lyre. 

This  was  thy  state !  but  oh  !  how  changed  thy  fame, 
And  all  thy  glories  fading  into  shame. 
What !  that  thy  bold,  thy  freedom-breathing  laud 
Should  crouch  beneath  a  tyrant's  stern  command  ! 
That  servitude  should  bind  in  galling  chain 
Whom  Asia's  millions  once  opposed  in  vain ; 


10  GEORGE  CANNING 

Who  could  have  thought  ?  who  sees  without  a  groan 
Thy  cities  mouldering,  and  thy  walls  o'erthrown  ? 

Thy  sons  (sad  change  !)  in  abject  bondage  sigh  ; 
Unpitied  toil,  and  unlamented  die. 

The  glittering  tyranny  of  Othman's  sons, 

The  pomp  of  horror  which  surrounds  their  thrones, 

Has  awed  their  servile  spirits  into  fear, 

Spurn'd  by  the  foot  they  tremble  and  revere. 


Compare  this  with  Byron's  treatment  of  the  same 
theme : — 

The  isles  of  Greece  !    The  isles  of  Greece  ! 

Where  burning  Sappho  loved  and  sang, 
Where  grew  the  arts  of  war  and  peace, 

Where  Delos  rose  and  Phoebus  sprang. 
Eternal  summer  gilds  them  yet, 
But  all,  except  their  sun,  is  set. 

In  general  it  would,  of  course,  be  idle  to  com- 
pare the  work  of  a  clever  lad  with  a  talent  for 
versification  with  that  of  a  poetic  genius  at  the 
maturity  of  his  powers.  In  this  case,  however,  the 
comparison  is  not  without  its  interest ;  for  the  con- 
trast lies  deeper  than  the  mere  difference  between 
mature  and  immature  art.  Of  none  was  the  saying 
that  "  the  boy  is  father  to  the  man  "  truer  than  of 
George  Canning  ;  and  in  this  youthful  poem  are 
already  conspicuous  all  the  essential  characteristics 
of  his  later  attitude  towards  life.  The  inspiration 
in  Byron's  poetry  is  the  same  as  that  which  sent 


EARLY  YEARS  11 

him  to  Missolonghi,  and  kept  him  there,  through 
disillusionment  and  disappointment,  to  die.  On 
Canning's  nature  no  such  tongues  of  fire  had 
fallen.  No  erratic  impulses,  however  generous, 
were  ever  allowed  to  disturb  the  equal  balance  of 
his  mind.  "  The  Slavery  of  Greece  "  is  but  the 
academic  expression  of  an  academic  sympathy,  not 
with  the  Greece  of  actual  fact — which,  indeed,  to 
Canning's  generation  was  but  little  known — but 
with  the  ideal  Greece  of  the  schools  ;  and  when 
the  time  came  to  give  this  sympathy  practical 
expression  Canning's  attitude  is  not  that  of  the 
poet,  but  of  the  statesman.  Sentiment  had  but 
little  place  in  his  nature.  It  had  none  in  his 
policy. 

For  the  rest,  it  must  be  confessed  that  Canning's 
boyhood  would  seem  to  have  been  characterised  by 
a  singular  absence  of  boyishness.  For  games  and 
sports  he  cared  nothing,  and  the  whole  admirable 
energy  of  his  mind  seems  to  have  been  set  on  self- 
improvement  ;  and  this,  not  so  much  from  the 
model  boy's  sense  of  present  duty,  as  a  process 
consciously  directed  by  definite  ambitions.  The 
determination  to  succeed  was,  in  fact,  already  the 
dominant  motive  of  his  life ;  and  already  he  had 
by  instinct  or  by  art  acquired  that  first  essential 
of  success  :  the  talent  of  the  skilful  chess-player 
for  looking  many  moves  ahead,  so  as  to  avoid 
the  first  false  step  that  leads  to  ultimate  failure. 


12  GEORGE  CANNING 

Throughout  his  school  career,  if  we  may  trust  the 
records,  his  portentous  progress  was  unrelieved  by 
a  single  escapade. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  passed  from  Eton 
to  Oxford,  matriculating  as  a  commoner  of  Christ 
Church.  Mr.  Stratford  Canning  was  now  dead, 
but  by  this  time  George  Canning  had  ceased  to 
be  dependent  upon  the  generosity  of  his  uncle ; 
for,  at  the  instance  of  his  grandmother,  his  grand- 
father, old  Mr.  Canning  of  Garvagh,  had  so  far  re- 
laxed as  to  bequeath  to  him  a  small  estate  in 
Ireland,  which  brought  him  in  an  annual  sum  of 
,£200,  sufficient  to  cover  the  expenses  of  his  educa- 
tion. This  income  was  not,  of  course,  wealth  even 
for  an  undergraduate  of  those  days  ;  but  it  was 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  hold  his  own  in  the 
aristocratic  set  to  which  the  reputation  he  brought 
with  him  from  Eton  served  to  introduce  him.  The 
boy  had  never  been  indiscriminate  in  his  friendships. 
He  selected  his  acquaintance,  as  he  selected  his 
books  :  not — to  be  just — solely  for  their  worldly 
use,  but  for  their  style  and  their  general  agree- 
ment with  his  own  instincts  and  aspirations.  And 
so,  at  Oxford,  his  circle,  if  small,  was  decidedly 
select.  It  included  the  names  of  many  destined, 
later  on,  to  play  a  part  in  the  world  of  affairs  : 
Lord  Holland,  Lord  Carlisle,  Lord  Seaford,  Lord 
Granville,  Lord  Boringdon  (afterwards  Earl  of 
Morley)  and  the  Hon.  Charles  Jenkinson,  after- 


EARLY  YEARS  13 

wards  created  Earl  of  Liverpool.  Of  these  young 
gentlemen  and  a  few  other  chosen  spirits,  it  would 
seem,  there  was  formed  within  the  college  a  sort  of 
close  corporation  for  mutual  improvement,  if  not 
for  mutual  admiration.  Its  atmosphere  exactly 
suited  Canning's  temper;  and  in  the  little  world 
of  the  University  he  tasted  by  anticipation  some 
of  the  joy  which  in  after  days  he  was  to  drain  to 
the  dregs :  the  joy  of  the  self-made  man,  whose 
talents  have  raised  him  above  the  level  of  those 
who  were  born  to  power.  For  power  seemed  to 
him,  even  at  this  early  age,  the  one  thing  in  this 
world  supremely  worth  having.  The  boyish  pleas- 
ures of  the  average  young  Oxonian  had  for  him  no 
attraction ;  he  despised  the  undisciplined  state  of 
mind  of  which  they  were  the  outcome,  and  spoke 
contemptuously  of  "the  utter  emptiness  and  un- 
amiableness  of  the  generality  of  good  folks  Christ 
Church  can  boast ".  He  himself  had  already  made 
up  his  mind  what  he  wanted  of  the  world,  and  was 
calculating  the  means  for  attaining  it.  The  House 
of  Commons,  indeed,  "  the  only  path  to  the  only 
desirable  thing  in  this  world — the  gratification  of 
ambition,"  he  recognised  as,  for  the  present,  be- 
yond his  reach  ;  but  there  remained  the  Law,  "a 
profession  which,  in  this  country,  holds  out  every 
inducement  that  can  nerve  the  exertions,  and  give 
vigour  to  the  power  of  a  young  man.  The  way,  in- 
deed, is  long,  toilsome  and  rugged  ;  but  it  leads 


14  GEORGE  CANNING 

to  honours,  solid  and  lasting ;  to  independence, 
without  which  no  blessings  of  fortune,  however 
profuse,  no  distinctions  of  station,  however  splen- 
did, can  afford  a  liberal  mind  true  satisfaction  ; 
to  power,  for  which  no  task  can  be  too  hard,  no 
labours  too  trying."  Surely  a  remarkable  epistle 
to  be  penned  by  a  boy  of  eighteen  to  a  college 
friend  ! 

The  letter,  from  which  the  above  is  an  extract, 
was  written  in  September,  1788.  Three  years 
later  George  Canning  left  Oxford  and  entered  as 
a  student  of  Lincoln's  Inn. 


CHAPTER  II 

PITT  AND  CANNING 

Canning  and  the  Whigs — The  French  Revolution — He  enters 
Parliament — His  maiden  speech — Character  of  his  elo- 
quence— Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs — Bonaparte 
and  the  revolutionary  wars — Policy  of  Pitt — Canning  and 
the  new  Humanitarianism  —  The  Anti-Jacobin  —  The 
coup  d'£tat  of  1 8th  Brumaire. 

TO  the  young  student,  chafing  over  his  law 
books,  the  prospect  of  ever  realising  his 
ambitions  seemed  for  the  moment  distant  enough. 
Yet,  though  his  circumstances  bound  him  to  follow 
a  profession,  his  eyes  were  ever  fixed  on  the  great 
world  of  affairs  beyond  the  shadow  of  the  courts. 
For  a  youth  of  his  temper,  indeed,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  at  that  time  to  concentrate  his 
attention  on  the  subtleties  of  the  law.  The  French 
Revolution  had  shaken  the  world  of  politics  to  its 
foundations ;  every  day  it  assumed  new  shapes  ; 
every  day  it  seemed  to  bring  to  birth  fresh  forces, 
strange,  portentous,  terrifying.  The  sober  judg- 
ment of  men  was  overset  by  a  phenomenon  incal- 
culable and  menacing  ;  and,  amid  the  death  of  old 
(15) 


16  GEORGE  CANNING 

ideas,  and  the  loosening  of  old  allegiance,  civilisa- 
tion seemed  to  many  to  be  reeling  to  its  ruin. 

The  constitutional  movement  of  1789  in  France 
had  been  greeted  by  Englishmen  with  fairly  general 
approval ;  but  when  the  demand  for  the  removal  of 
abuses  developed  into  open  defiance  of  all  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  society  was  held  to  rest,  and  Reform 
had  become  Revolution,  approval  gave  place  to  anger 
and  alarm,  which  the  Terror  turned  into  fanatic  hate. 
For  the  moment,  indeed,  it  seemed  as  though  the 
sickness  of  France  were  about  to  infect  the  English 
body  politic.  The  mass  of  the  people,  unrepre- 
sented in  Parliament,  were  suffering  and  ill  content. 
To  the  more  intelligent  the  cruel  anachronisms  of 
the  Statute  Book  :  the  Test  Act,  the  barbarous  penal 
code,  above  all  the  scandals  of  the  parliamentary 
franchise,  were  an  ever  present  source  of  irritation. 
To  these  the  catch-words  of  the  French  Revolution 
were  welcome  as  giving  voice  to  their  own  griev- 
ances ;  societies,  of  which  the  most  respectable  was 
that  of  "  The  Friends  of  the  People,"  were  formed 
in  the  great  towns  to  agitate  for  change  ;  at  Sheffield 
and  Dundee  riots  broke  out,  and  the  cry  went  up 
for  "  Equality  "  and  "The  Republic  ".  Amid  these 
alarming  symptoms  the  old  party  cries  rang  hollow 
and  unreal,  and  soon  ceased  to  be  heard.  Burke, 
hitherto  the  protagonist  of  freedom,  revolted  from 
a  liberty  that  tended  to  degenerate  into  licence, 
and  headed  a  Whig  secession  into  the  Tory  camp. 


PITT  AND  CANNING  17 

The  parliamentary  balance  was  upset ;  and  when 
Pitt  took  up  the  gage  of  defiance  flung  down  by 
revolutionary  France,  he  had  behind  him  a  vast  and 
docile  majority,  while  on  the  Opposition  benches  a 
sorry  remnant  of  the  once  all-powerful  Whig  party 
championed  the  seemingly  forlorn  hope  of  a  Liberal- 
ism as  yet  unweaned. 

The  Opposition,  however,  though  weak  in  num- 
bers, was  powerful  in  talent.  To  meet  the  burning 
eloquence  of  Fox,  the  biting  wit  of  Sheridan,  the 
cultivated  common  sense  of  Grey,  Pitt  could  rely 
upon  himself  only.  It  is  true  that  no  artillery  of 
argument,  however  well  directed,  could  have  shaken 
the  stolid  battalions  of  country  gentlemen  who 
supported  the  Government ;  but  the  situation  was 
discreditable,  and  might  prove  perilous.  Pitt,  too, 
was  beginning  to  feel  the  strain  of  this  single- 
handed  battle  against  intellectual  odds  ;  and  since 
Parliament  could  not  supply  him  with  lieutenants, 
he  began  to  look  abroad  for  young  men  of  talent 
to  help  him  in  his  need.  It  was  under  these 
circumstances  that  his  attention  was  directed  to 
George  Canning,  of  whom  he  had  already  heard 
as  a  young  man  of  parts  and  avowed  ambitions  ; 
and  realising  that  here  was  exactly  what  he  wanted, 
he  offered  him  a  seat  in  Parliament,  in  return  for 
his  support. 

The  opportunity,  so  ardently  longed  for,  had 
come  ;  and  but  one  apparent  obstacle  stood  in  the 


18  GEORGE  CANNING 

way  of  Canning's  accepting  an  offer  as  grateful  as 
it  was  unlocked  for.  This  obstacle  was,  at  first 
sight,  a  serious  one  to  a  youth  of  high  principle. 
At  his  uncle's  house  he  had  been  brought  up  a 
Whig  amongst  Whigs.  On  first  coming  to  town, 
he  had  been  greeted  as  a  coming  hope  of  the 
Opposition,  welcomed  in  the  circle  of  Fox  and 
Sheridan,  and  introduced  as  a  young  man  of  talent 
into  the  rarefied  atmosphere  of  Devonshire  House. 
Under  these  circumstances,  to  accept  the  first  offer 
of  the  Tory  Government,  at  a  time  when  the  Tory 
allegiance  was  the  sole  apparent  avenue  to  success, 
would  infallibly  expose  him  to  the  obvious  charge 
which  was  actually  flung  in  his  face.  Yet  the 
charge  was  as  shallow  as  it  was  unjust.  In  any 
case  it  would  have  been  no  great  treason  in  a  boy 
of  twenty  -  three  to  exchange  a  fortuitous  and 
doubtful  allegiance  to  principles  fallen  obsolete  for 
the  certainty  of  a  brilliant  and  useful  career  ;  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  whatever  Canning's  views  may 
have  been  before  the  Revolution,  this  catastrophe 
had  wrought  in  him  the  same  change  which  it 
had  produced  in  so  many  of  the  Whig  leaders. 
With  the  abstract  political  principles  of  the 
new  "  French "  school  his  nature,  practical  and 
British  to  the  core,  was  thoroughly  out  of  sym- 
pathy. Offers,  tempting  enough  to  the  vanity 
of  youth,  had  been  made  to  him  by  the  party  of 
Reform ;  but  he  recognised  in  "  The  Society  of 


GEORGE   CANNING 
After  Hoppner 


PITT  AND  CANNING  19 

the  Friends  of  the  People"  the  organ  of  what 
he  called  "not  at  random,  but  deliberately,"  the 
French  party;  and  in  a  letter  of  13th  December, 
1792,  addressed  to  his  friend,  Lord  Boringdon,  he 
declared  that  he  could  attach  himself  to  neither 
section  of  the  Opposition,  and  that,  should  he  ever 
succeed  in  entering  Parliament,  it  would  be  as 
a  follower  of  Pitt.  When,  therefore,  he  received 
the  Prime  Minister's  offer  of  a  seat,  he  accepted 
it  without  hesitation,  and  in  the  session  of  1793 
made  his  entry  into  Parliament  as  member  for  the 
borough  of  Newport. 

The  first  few  months  of  Canning's  parliamentary 
career  were  distinguished  by  a  masterly  inactivity 
wholly  characteristic.  There  was  every  temptation 
for  him  to  rush  at  once  into  the  fray.  He  appeared 
in  the  House  with  a  reputation  ready  made ;  and 
friend  and  foe  alike  expected  great  things  of  him. 
But  he  was  not  of  those  who  believe  they  will  be 
heard  for  their  much  speaking  ;  and  he  was  deter- 
mined that,  when  the  proper  time  for  speech 
should  come,  there  should  be  no  doubt  about 
his  success.  He  remained,  therefore,  in  silence, 
studying  the  methods,  and  diagnosing  the  temper 
of  the  House,  until,  on  31st  January,  1794-,  his 
opportunity  came  during  the  debate  on  Pitt's 
motion  for  granting  a  war  subsidy  to  the  King  of 
Sardinia. 

Canning  tells   us   that  he    rose   to   speak    with 


20  GEORGE  CANNING 

anxiety,  that  his  vanity  was  hurt  by  the  osten- 
tatious inattention  of  the  front  Opposition  bench, 
and  that  his  equanimity  was  only  restored  by  the 
vociferous  applause  of  his  party.  Whatever  his 
own  emotions  during  the  delivery  of  his  maiden 
speech,  of  its  effect  on  the  House  there  could  be 
no  doubt.  When  he  rose,  Canning  was  known  as  a 
young  man  of  brilliant  promise  ;  when  he  sat  down, 
he  was  a  recognised  master  of  parliamentary  ora- 
tory. 

To  appreciate  truly  the  great  speakers  of  the 
past  is  only  less  difficult  than  to  estimate  the 
qualities  of  its  great  actors.  Garrick  and  Talma 
survive  but  as  names.  Of  Canning  and  Mirabeau 
the  words  may  still  be  read  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
conjure  up  the  personal  qualities,  the  subtleties  of 
look,  and  voice,  and  gesture,  which  gave  to  the 
sounding  periods  a  double  portion  of  life.  Then, 
too,  the  art  of  oratory  consists  largely  in  the 
appeal  to  the  tastes,  the  temper,  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  a  particular  audience.  We  read  with  amazement 
of  the  effect  produced  by  Canning's  eloquence  ;  of 
a  crowded  audience  rapt  by  a  phrase  into  a  frenzy 
of  almost  uncontrollable  emotion ;  of  the  ready  re- 
sponse of  laughter  or  of  tears  which  at  all  times 
he  knew  how  to  evoke.  Yet,  in  the  speeches 
as  they  have  come  down  to  us  it  is  difficult  to 
detect  the  secret  of  this  art  magic.  Their  style 
is  elaborated  with  an  extravagance  of  care  which 


PITT  AND  CANNING  21 

makes  them  almost  unconvincing,  and  in  their 
ostentatious  avoidance  of  the  least  suspicion  of 
vulgarity  of  phrasing  they  sometimes  verge  upon 
pedantry.  No  orator  would  now  substitute  for 
"  cat's-paw "  "  the  paw  of  a  certain  domestic 
animal,"  nor,  in  order  to  avoid  the  word  Quixotic, 
speak  of  an  "  enterprise  romantic  in  its  origin,  and 
thankless  in  its  end,  to  be  characterised  only  by  a 
term  borrowed  from  that  part  of  the  Spanish  liter- 
ature with  which  we  are  most  familiar  "  ; — but  then 
we  have  lost,  for  better  or  for  worse,  the  taste  for 
Ciceronian  periods.  In  making  these  criticisms, 
however,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Canning's 
speeches  have  not  come  down  to  us  as  they  were 
delivered,  but  as  they  were  emended  by  him  for 
purposes  of  publication.  His  orations,  though  pre- 
pared with  extreme  and  anxious  care,  were  not 
written  down  before  delivery,  and  as  a  guide  to 
his  memory  he  held  in  his  hand  only  the  barest 
outline  of  his  argument.  Yet  the  impression  made 
by  his  published  speeches  is  confirmed  by  the 
opinion  of  contemporaries  not  incapable  of  form- 
ing a  sound  and  impartial  judgment.  Of  these 
Hobhouse  was  assuredly  not  one,  yet  his  "appre- 
ciation," every  stinging  line  of  which  is  venomous 
with  party  spite,  is  worth  giving,  if  only  to  illus- 
trate the  kind  of  criticism  to  which  Canning  was 
exposed  during  his  lifetime.  "A  smart,  sixth-form 
boy,"  he  writes  of  Canning,  "  the  little  hero  of  a 


22  GEORGE  CANNING 

little  world,  matures  his  precocious  parts  at  college, 
and  sends  before  him  his  fame  to  the  metropolis  ; 
a  Minister,  or  some  Borough-holder  of  the  day, 
thinks  him  worth  saving  from  his  democratic  associ- 
ates, and  from  the  unprofitable  principles  which  the 
thoughtless  enthusiasm  of  youth  may  have  in- 
clined him  hitherto  to  adopt.  The  hopeless  youth 
yields  at  once,  and,  placed  in  the  true  line  of  pro- 
motion, he  takes  his  place  with  the  more  veteran 
prostitutes  of  Parliament.  There  he  minds  his 
periods  ;  there  he  balances  his  antitheses  ;  there 
he  adjusts  his  alliterations ;  and,  filling  up  the  in- 
terstices of  this  pie-bald,  patchwork  rhetoric  with 
froth  and  foam,  this  master  of  pompous  nothings 
becomes  first  favourite  of  the  Great  Council  of 
the  nation."  These,  of  course,  are  the  ravings  of 
political  lunacy,  hardly  more  respectable  than  those 
gutter  broad-sheets  of  the  time  which,  when  they 
had  exhausted  their  abuse  of  Canning  himself,  pro- 
ceeded to  attack  the  character  of  his  mother.  Yet 
though  Canning  was  most  certainly  not  merely  a 
"  master  of  pompous  nothings,"  there  was  enough 
of  the  temper  of  truth  in  the  accusation  to  give  it 
a  cutting  edge.  Brougham,  who,  though  a  political 
opponent,  was  not  an  unkindly  critic,  speaks  of 
Canning  as  an  actor  rather  than  an  orator,  and 
in  comparing  his  eloquence  with  that  of  Pitt  said  : 
"  Pitt  gave  you  the  impression  of  a  man  who  stood 
clearly  on  his  purpose,  and  was  too  much  in  earnest 


PITT  AND  CANNING  23 

to  be  conscious  of  any  ambition  beyond  it.  Can- 
ning always  had  the  classical  air  about  him  of  an 
orator  who  felt  he  was  addressing  posterity." 

Whatever  the  qualities  of  his  oratory,  Canning, 
even  after  his  first  successful  essay,  was  not  pro- 
digal of  it.  In  December,  1794,  he  was  chosen  to 
second  the  Address ;  in  March  of  the  following 
year  he  made  a  few  remarks  in  the  committee  on 
the  state  of  the  nation.  In  December  of  the  same 
year  he  was  appointed  to  the  Under-Secretaryship 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  and,  devoting  himself  com- 
pletely to  the  business  of  his  office,  for  two  years 
he  never,  but  once,  opened  his  mouth  in  Parliament. 
This  self-repression  in  a  character  so  naturally  self- 
assertive  was  as  rare  as  it  was  admirable.  George 
Canning  had  his  aim  sun-clear  before  him.  He 
intended  some  day  to  govern ;  and  government  was, 
he  realised,  an  art  that  must  be  learned.  Mean- 
while he  had  his  reward.  On  21st  August,  1796, 
he  wrote  to  his  friend,  Lord  Boringdon,  ' '  The  hap- 
piness of  constant  occupation  is  infinite  ".  Which 
is  true — if  the  occupation  be  congenial. 

There  was  certainly  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  enough  material  to  absorb  the  attention  of  a 
Minister  of  Canning's  keen  and  ambitious  nature. 
There  were  questions  of  vital  importance  at  home, 
social,  economic,  political ;  above  all,  the  peren- 
nial problem  of  Ireland.  All  these  were,  however, 
being  rapidly  overshadowed  by  the  surprising  de- 


24  GEORGE  CANNING 

velopments  of  the  war.  The  first  effort  of  the 
"legitimate"  Powers  to  unite  against  the  common 
revolutionary  peril  had  ended  in  discord  and 
disaster.  Republican  France,  in  answer  to  the 
threats  of  the  Coalition,  had  thrown  down  the 
gage  of  defiance  to  monarchical  Europe ;  and,  in- 
spired by  the  double  motive  of  love  of  country  and 
revolutionary  fanaticism,  the  armies  of  Humanity 
had  poured  over  the  frontiers  to  the  conquest  of 
the  world.  Their  strength  was  the  outcome  largely 
of  their  very  weakness.  In  face  of  a  France  appa- 
rently disorganised  and  bankrupt,  the  Powers  had 
no  sufficient  motive  for  sinking  their  individual 
jealousies  and  ambitions  in  a  common  cause. 
Russia,  which  under  the  Emperors  Alexander  I. 
and  Nicholas  I.  was  to  become  the  banner-bearer 
of  confederated  Europe,  had,  under  the  cynical 
guidance  of  the  Empress  Catherine,  taken  advan- 
tage of  the  preoccupation  of  the  Powers  to  close 
her  grip  upon  Poland  ;  and  Prussia,  repenting  her 
unnatural  league  with  Austria,  had  withdrawn 
from  the  Alliance,  and  hastened  eastward  to  take 
her  share  of  the  spoil.  France,  the  league  of  her 
enemies  dissolved,  had  time  to  organise  her  en- 
thusiasm under  the  discipline  of  the  Terror.  Defeat 
and  fear  gave  place  to  victory  and  visions  of  mili- 
tary glory,  till,  as  conquest  followed  conquest,  the 
world  began  to  realise  that  out  of  the  chaos  of  the 
Revolution  a  new  force,  sinister  and  menacing,  was 


PITT  AND  CANNING  25 

gradually  taking  shape.  When,  in  1797,  the  career 
of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  in  Italy  was  crowned  by 
the  Treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  the  birth  of  the 
Napoleonic  Idea,  which  "sprang  from  the  Revolu- 
tion, like  Minerva  from  the  brow  of  Jove,  helmet 
on  head,  and  all  sheathed  in  iron,"  was  already 
manifest  to  men  of  discernment. 

It  was  among  these  momentous  events  that  Can- 
ning served  his  apprenticeship  to  Foreign  Affairs 
under  the  statesman  who,  from  first  to  last,  was 
alone  by  him  admitted  to  be  his  master.  In  the 
•policy  of  Pitt  we  find,  indeed,  the  key  to  those 
principles  of  international  action  which,  through- 
out his  career,  and  under  very  changed  conditions, 
Canning  was  consistently  to  apply.  This  policy,  by 
which  for  nigh  on  a  quarter  of  a  century  British 
blood  and  British  wealth  were  poured  out  to 
maintain  the  struggle  against  France,  was  not 
the  outcome  of  mere  hatred  of  the  abstract  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution.  When,  in  1793,  Pitt 
took  up  the  reckless  challenge  of  France,  it  was 
with  no  intention  of  forcing  upon  her  a  system  of 
government  which  she  had  rejected.  The  doctrine 
of  Non-intervention,  which  in  after  years  Canning 
was  to  champion  against  the  Holy  Alliance,  was 
also  his.  It  was  the  defiance  of  this  principle  by 
France,  and  her  claim — issuing  in  a  policy  of 
frank  conquest — to  impose  her  own  model  upon 
other  nations,  which  moved  him  to  begin  and  to 


26  GEORGE  CANNING 

persevere  in  the  war.  Nor,  in  subsidising  foreign 
Governments,  was  his  motive  the  altruistic  one  of 
succouring  "oppressed  nationalities".  Pitt's  policy, 
though  it  issued  in  "saving  Europe,"  was  in  inten- 
tion purely  British.  Europe  must  be  saved,  be- 
cause upon  the  maintenance  of  the  international 
balance  of  power  depended  the  safety  and  the 
influence  of  England. 

From  the  first  Canning  had  identified  himself 
whole-heartedly  with  this  policy,  so  congenial  to 
his  own  temperament.  Even  before  entering 
Parliament,  in  a  letter  dated  13th  December, 
1792,  he  had  insisted  to  his  friend,  Lord  Boring- 
don,  on  "  the  right  of  a  nation  to  choose  for  itself 
its  own  Constitution "  as  "  a  right  derived  from 
God  and  nature  alone  "  ;  and,  in  his  first  speech 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  he  declared  that  had 
the  "  madness  "  of  France  "  been  a  harmless  idiot 
lunacy,  contented  with  playing  its  tricks,  and  prac- 
tising its  fooleries  at  home ;  with  dressing  up 
strumpets  in  oak-leaves,  and  inventing  nick- 
names for  the  calendar,"  Great  Britain  might 
have  watched  "  their  innocent  amusements  "  with 
pity  and  contempt.  But  their  madness  had  not 
been  of  this  sort.  "  Theirs  was  a  moody  and 
mischievous  insanity  by  which,  not  contented 
with  wounding  and  tearing  themselves,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  exert  their  unnatural  strength  for  the 
annoyance  of  their  neighbours,  and,  not  satisfied 


PITT  AND  CANNING  27 

with  weaving  straws  and  wearing  fetters  at  home, 
they  attempted  to  carry  their  systems  and  their 
slavery  abroad.  This  was  a  disposition  which,  for 
the  safety  and  peace  of  the  world,  must  be  re- 
pelled, and,  if  possible,  eradicated." 

In  taking  up  this  attitude,  Canning  professed 
to  study  primarily  the  interests  of  Great  Britain, 
though  he  rejoiced  that  what  made  for  his  country's 
good  tended  also  to  benefit  the  world  at  large. 
"  Every  nation  for  itself,  and  God  for  us  all  !  "  was 
already  his  motto ;  and  in  the  great  speech  of  llth 
December,  1798,  on  Mr.  Tierney's  motion  to  end 
the  war,  which  finally  established  his  reputation  as 
an  orator,  he  poured  scorn  "  on  that  large  and 
liberal  system  of  ethics"  which  had  superseded  "all 
the  narrow  prejudices  of  the  ancient  school — that 
we  are  to  consider  not  so  much  what  is  good  for 
our  country,  as  what  is  good  for  the  human  race  ; 
that  we  are  all  children  of  one  family  ;  "  and  other 
like  "  fancies  and  philanthropies  "  to  him  incom- 
prehensible. Yet,  though  he  still  conceived  it  to 
be  "the  paramount  duty  of  a  British  member  of 
Parliament  to  consider  what  was  good  for  Great 
Britain,"  his  attitude  was  not  the  outcome  of  a 
reckless  Chauvinism,  but  because  he  saw  in  the 
honest  rivalry  of  nations  the  healthy  state  of  the 
world.  "  Ours  has  been  a  generous  ambition,"  he 
exclaimed  on  the  same  occasion,  "  and  it  has  not 
been  disappointed  so  far  as  we  ourselves  are  con- 


28  GEORGE  CANNING 

cerned  ;  but  it  looks  to  larger  and  more  elevated 
objects — to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  world." 
While,  however,  Canning  found  no  difficulty  in 
pulverising  the  somewhat  brittle  arguments  of  the 
Opposition  in  Parliament,  the  situation  in  the 
country  was,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Govern- 
ment, less  satisfactory.  There  the  argument  was 
for  the  moment  all  on  the  other  side ;  the  wits  of 
the  "French"  party  had  at  command  a  whole 
armoury  of  satire  and  invective  with  which  they 
mercilessly  riddled  the  only  too  vulnerable  un- 
reformed  body  politic,  while  the  friends  of  the 
established  order  sought  shelter  behind  their 
intrenchments  of  privilege,  without  venturing  to 
reply.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  remedying  this 
state  of  things  that  Canning  collaborated  with 
others  like  minded  with  himself  in  bringing 
out  the  Anti- Jacobin  —  the  title  sufficiently  ex- 
plains its  principles — a  paper  intended  to  combat 
the  enemies  of  the  Government  with  their  own 
weapons.  The  first  number  appeared  in  November, 
1797,  the  last  in  July,  1798.  But  though  the  life 
of  the  paper  was  short,  it  was  from  the  outset 
a  brilliant  success.  To  this  Canning,  who  was  a 
frequent  contributor,  added  much.  His  mastery 
of  satire,  which  sometimes  tended  to  cause  scandal 
in  debate,  was  invaluable  to  him  as  a  pamphleteer  ; 
and,  though  no  poet,  his  facile  verse  possessed 
just  the  qualities  best  suited  for  political  ends.  In 


PITT  AND  CANNING  29 

days  of  imperfect  reporting  the  full-blooded  periods 
of  Canning's  parliamentary  orations  failed  of  their 
effect  outside  the  walls  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  the  "man  in  the  street"  could  appreciate  and 
remember  his  description  of  the  typical  apostle  of 
the  New  Morality. 

Taught  in  her  school  to  imbibe  thy  mawkish  strain, 

Condorcet,  filtered  through  the  dregs  of  Paine, 

Each  pert  adept  disowns  a  Briton's  part, 

And  plucks  the  name  of  England  from  his  heart. 

What !  shall  a  name,  a  word,  a  sound,  control 

Th'  aspiring  thought,  and  cramp  th'  expansive  soul  ? 

Shall  one  half-peopled  island's  rocky  round 

A  love,  that  glows  for  all  creation,  bound  ? 

And  social  charities  contract  the  plan 

Framed  for  thy  freedom,  Universal  Man  ! 

No — through  th'  extended  globe  his  feelings  run 

As  broad  and  general  as  th'  unbounded  sun  ! 

No  narrow  bigot  he  ; — his  reasoned  view 

Thy  interests,  England,  ranks  with  thine,  Peru  ! 

France  at  our  doors,  he  sees  no  danger  nigh, 

But  heaves  for  Turkey's  woes  th'  impartial  sigh  ; 

A  steady  patriot  of  the  world  alone, 

The  friend  of  every  country — but  his  own. 

The  poetry  of  the  Anti-Jacobin  was  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  the  result  of  collaboration ;  and 
it  would  require  a  more  elaborate  critical  analysis 
than  I  am  able  to  present  in  order  to  determine 
how  much  was  contributed  by  Canning,  and  how 
much  by  his  colleagues,  Frere,  Ellis  or  Gifford. 
Of  Canning's  undoubted  compositions,  "  The  New 
Morality,"  from  which  the  above  lines  are  quoted, 


30  GEORGE  CANNING 

is  the  most  notable  both  in  length  and  style.  Two 
others,  "  The  Needy  Knife-grinder  "  and  the  "  In- 
scription for  the  Door  of  the  Cell  in  Newgate,  where 
Mrs.  Brownrigg  was  Confined,"  are  "often  quoted  "; 
and  since  often-quoted  things  are  by  the  generality 
of  people  but  seldom  heard,  I  will  quote  them  again. 
"The  Needy  Knife-grinder"  is  a  parody  of  Southey's 
Sapphic  poem  "  The  Widow  ". 

SAPPHICS 
THE  FRIEND  OF  HUMANITY  AND  THE  KNIFE-GKINDEE 

Friend  of  Humanity 

"  Needy  Knife-grinder  !  whither  are  you  going  ? 
Rough  is  the  road,  your  wheel  is  out  of  order — 
Bleak  blows  the  blast ;  your  hat  has  got  a  hole  in't, 
So  have  your  breeches  ! 

"  Weary  Knife-grinder  !  little  think  the  proud  ones, 
Who  in  their  coaches  roll  along  the  turnpike- 
Road,  what  hard  work  'tis  crying  all  day  '  Knives  and 
Scissors  to  grind  0  ! ' 

' '  Tell  me,  Knife-grinder,  how  came  you  to  grind  knives  ? 
Did  some  rich  man  tyranically  use  you  ? 
Was  it  the  squire  ?  or  parson  of  the  parish  ? 
Or  the  attorney  ? 

"  Was  it  the  squire,  for  killing  of  his  game  ?  or 
Covetous  parson,  for  his  tithes  distraining  ? 
Or  roguish  lawyer,  made  you  lose  your  little 
All  in  a  lawsuit  ? 

"  (Have  you  not  read  the  Rights  of  Man,  by  Tom  Paine  ?) 
Drops  of  compassion  tremble  on  my  eyelids, 
Ready  to  fall,  as  soon  as  you  have  told  your 
Pitiful  story." 


PITT  AND  CANNING  31 

Knife-grinder 

"  Story  !  God  bless  you  !  I  have  none  to  tell,  sir, 
Only  last  night  a-drinking  at  the  Chequers, 
This  poor  old  hat  and  breeches,  as  you  see,  were 
Torn  in  a  scuffle. 

"  Constables  came  up  for  to  take  me  into 
Custody  ;  they  took  me  before  the  justice  ; 
Justice  Oldmixon  put  me  in  the  parish- 
Stocks  for  a  vagrant. 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  drink  your  Honour's  health  in 
A  pot  of  beer,  if  you  will  give  me  sixpence  ; 
But  for  my  part,  I  never  love  to  meddle 
With  politics,  sir." 

Friend  of  Humanity 

"  I  give  thee  sixpence  !  I  will  see  thee  damned  first — 
Wretch  !  whom  no  sense  of  wrongs  can  rouse  to  vengeance — 
Sordid,  unfeeling,  reprobate,  degraded, 

Spiritless  outcast ! " 

(Kicks  the  Knife-grinder,  overturns  his  wheel,  and  exit  in  a  trans- 
port of  Republican  enthusiasm  and  universal  philanthropy.) 

The  second  poem  is  also  a  parody  on  one  of 
Southey's.  The  original  I  will  also  give  in  full, 
for  without  a  full  knowledge  of  it  the  keen  edge 
of  Canning's  satire  is  not  felt. 

INSCRIPTION 

FOR  THE  APARTMENT  IN  CHEPSTOW  CASTLB,  WHERE  HENRY 
MARTEN,  THE  REGICIDE,  WAS  IMPRISONED  THIRTY  YKARS 

For  thirty  years  secluded  from  mankind 
Here  Marten  lingered.     Often  have  these  walls 
Echoed  his  footsteps,  as  with  even  tread 
He  paced  around  his  prison  :  not  to  him 


32  GEORGE  CANNING 

Did  Nature's  fair  varieties  exist ; 

He  never  saw  the  sun's  delightful  beams, 

Save  when  through  yon  high  bars  he  pour'd  a  sad 

And  broken  splendour.     Dost  thou  ask  his  crime  ? 

HE  HAD  REBELLED  AGAINST  THE  KING  ;  AND  SAT 

IN  JUDGMENT  ON  HIM  ;  for  his  ardent  mind 

Shaped  goodliest  plans  of  happiness  on  earth, 

And  peace  and  liberty.     Wild  dreams  !  but  such 

As  Plato  loved  ;  such  as  with  holy  zeal 

Our  Milton  worshipp'd.    Blessed  hopes  !  awhile 

From  man  withheld,  even  to  the  latter  days 

When  Christ  shall  come,  and  all  things  be  fulfill'd  ! 

This  effusion  contains  all  the  elements  that  invite 
parody,  for  it  is,  in  fact,  itself  a  serious  parody  of 
the  truth.  Henry  Marten  himself,  who,  if  he  had 
no  morals,  possessed  at  any  rate  a  cynical  wit,  would 
have  been  the  first  to  laugh  at  his  own  exaltation 
into  a  martyr  in  the  cause  of  humanity.  Can- 
ning had  no  compunction  in  pillorying  such  sham 
sentiment.  He  did  it  effectually  in  the  following 
poem  : — 

INSCRIPTION 

FOB  THE  DOOR  OF  THE  CELL  IN  NEWGATE,  WHERE  MRS.  BflOWN- 
RIGG,  THE  TRENTICE-CIDE,  WAS  CONFINED  PREVIOUS  TO  HER 
EXECUTION 

For  one  long  term,  or  e'er  her  trial  came, 

Here  Brownrigg  linger' d.     Often  have  these  cells 

Echoed  her  blasphemies,  as  with  shrill  voice 

She  screamed  for  fresh  Geneva.     Not  to  her 

Did  the  blithe  fields  of  Tothill,  or  thy  street, 

St  Giles,  its  fair  varieties  expand  ; 

Till  at  the  last,  in  slow-drawn  cart  she  went 


PITT  AND  CANNING  S3 

To  execution.    Dost  thou  ask  her  crime  ? 

SHE  WHIPPED  TWO  FEMALE  TBENTICES  TO  DEATH 

AND  HID  THEM  IN  THE  COAL-HOLE.    For  her  mind 

Shaped  strictest  plans  of  discipline.     Sage  schemes  ! 

Such  as  Lycurgus  taught,  when  at  the  shrine 

Of  the  Orthyan  goddess  he  bade  flog 

The  little  Spartans  ;  such  as  erst  chastised 

Our  Milton  when  at  college.     For  this  act 

Did  Brownrigg  swing.     Harsh  laws  !    But  time  shall  come 

When  France  shall  come,  and  laws  be  all  repeal'd  ! 

While  allowing  Canning  and  his  collaborators, 
however,  all  credit  for  their  wit  and  literary  style,  it 
is  far  from  possible  in  every  case  to  admit  the  justice, 
or  even  the  decency,  of  their  satires.  Many  of  the 
parodies,  especially  those  that — like  "  The  Loves 
of  the  Triangles" — are  not  political,  exhibit  an 
abounding  sense  of  humour  and  a  sound  spirit  of 
literary  criticism.  But  what  are  we  to  say  of  the 
taste  or  judgment  which  could  represent  the  great 
advocate  Erskine,  or  the  moderate  and  philosophic 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  as  taking  a  prominent  part 
in  a  republican  orgy  and  drinking  to  "Bonaparte 
and  the  Revolution  "  ?  or  of  the  knowledge  of  men 
and  affairs  which  could  include  the  gentle  Charles 
Lamb  amongst  the  enemies  of  social  order  ?  The 
explanation,  and  possibly  the  excuse,  for  the 
tone  of  the  Anti-Jacobin  lie  in  the  overheated 
political  atmosphere  of  the  times.  The  aim  of 
the  paper  was  frankly  partisan ;  and  its  authors 
condescended  deliberately  into  the  gutter  at  a 
3 


34  GEORGE  CANNING 

time  when  the  polemical  weapons  of  the  gutter 
were  even  less  savoury  than  they  are  now.  It 
is  true  that  if  Canning  gave,  he  also  received, 
hard  knocks.  His  antecedents,  his  character,  his 
person,  his  motives,  were  in  turn  ridiculed  and 
abused.  Even  the  character  of  his  mother  was 
not  spared.  It  would  perhaps  have  been  more 
dignified  had  he  abstained  from  retaliating  in  kind. 
Possibly  it  would  also  have  been  less  effective. 

In  any  case,  however,  revolutionary  "senti- 
mentality "  was  destined  soon  to  receive  a  ruder 
blow  than  could  have  been  dealt  it  by  the  hardest 
polemical  bludgeoning  or  the  keenest  intellectual 
sword-play. 

In  May,  1798,  Bonaparte  sailed  on  his  Egyptian 
expedition ;  and  on  the  following  August  1 
Nelson's  victory  on  the  Nile  cut  him  off  from 
Europe.  This  catastrophe,  apparently  so  fatal  to 
his  ambitions,  proved  in  effect  helpful  to  his 
success.  During  his  enforced  absence,  Pitt  had 
succeeded  in  forming  a  fresh  coalition  against 
France ;  and  the  defeats  suffered  by  the  French 
arms  at  the  hands  of  the  Archduke  Charles  in 
Germany  and  of  the  Russian  General  Suvoroff  in 
Italy  turned  the  eyes  of  the  French  people  to  the 
young  general  who  was  reaping  fresh  laurels  in 
Africa  and  in  Syria.  Bonaparte,  watching  affairs 
at  home  with  a  keen  eye,  at  last  saw  that  his  time 
had  come.  Leaving  Kleber  in  command  in  Egypt, 


PITT  AND  CANNING  35 

he  set  sail  with  a  few  chosen  companions,  and, 
managing  to  evade  the  British  cruisers,  landed  at 
Frejus  on  9th  October,  1799-  Seven  days  later  he 
was  in  Paris.  On  10th  November  his  grenadiers 
had  driven  the  deputies  from  the  hall  of  assembly 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  Bonaparte  was  in 
effect,  though  not  in  name,  sole  master  of  the 
destinies  of  France. 

To  Canning  the  coup  d'Etat  of  the  18th  Brumaire 
was  wholly  welcome,  and  he  greeted  it  with  loudly 
expressed  satisfaction.  "I  would  give  France 
India,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "to  ensure  her  a 
despotism,  and  think  the  purchase  a  cheap  one. 
No !  no !  It  is  the  thorough  destruction  of  the 
principles  of  exaggerated  liberty — it  is  the  lasting 
ridicule  thrown  upon  all  systems  of  democratic 
equality — it  is  the  galling  conviction  carried  home 
to  the  minds  of  all  the  brawlers  for  freedom  in  this 
and  every  other  country,  that  there  never  was,  nor 
will  be,  nor  can  be,  a  leader  of  a  mob  faction  who 
does  not  mean  to  be  the  lord,  and  not  the  servant, 
of  the  people." 

The  hatred  and  distrust  of  democracy  revealed 
in  the  above  letter  gives  us  the  extreme  measure 
of  Canning's  Toryism.  Yet,  however  exaggerated 
his  fears  of  popular  government  may  have  been, 
they  were  founded  upon  no  mere  blind  resistance 
to  all  reform.  But  he  thought  he  saw  in  demo- 
cracy the  same  danger  as  in  autocracy,  and  objected 


36  GEORGE  CANNING 

to  committing  unlimited  power  to  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  because  "  all  unlimited  and  irresponsible 
power  is  sure  to  be  abused  "  ;  and  in  the  established 
balance  of  forces  in  the  British  Constitution,  how- 
ever glaring  its  anomalies,  he  recognised  the  pal- 
ladium of  British  liberty.  So  long  as  a  system 
seemed  to  him  to  work  well,  he  cared  not  a  rap 
for  the  soundness  or  unsoundness  of  its  logical 
foundation ;  and  the  French  passion  for  recon- 
structing institutions  on  general  principles  was 
wholly  foreign  to  him. 

"The  temper  and  practice  of  the  British  Con- 
stitution," he  said,  "is  to  redress  practical  griev- 
ances, but  not  to  run  after  theoretical  perfection." 
But  even  the  redress  of  admitted  wrongs,  whether 
of  classes  or  of  individuals,  seemed  to  him  only 
advisable  in  the  public  interest  where  the  grievance 
had  attained  proportions  perilous  to  the  body 
politic.  When,  however,  the  general  interests  of 
the  State  seemed  to  him  bound  up  with  such  re- 
dress, he  was  fearless  and  untiring  in  his  champion- 
ship of  change. 

This  principle,  Conservative  rather  than  Tory, 
was  well  illustrated  in  Canning's  attitude  towards 
the  Irish  question,  which,  while  Bonaparte  was 
consolidating  his  power  in  France,  was  passing  into 
a  phase  even  more  fateful  for  the  future  of  the 
British  Empire. 


CHAPTER  III 

CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION 

Grattan's  Parliament — The  rebellion  of  1798 — Pitt  and  Ire- 
land— The  Union  proposed — Canning  and  the  Union 
— The  question  of  Catholic  emancipation — Resignation 
of  Pitt. 

IN  1782,  helped  by  the  entanglement  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  war  with  the  American  colonies, 
Grattan  had  succeeded  in  achieving  the  legislative 
independence  of  Ireland,  subject,  however,  to  the 
ultimate  control  of  the  Imperial  Parliament.  The 
experiment,  based  as  it  was  on  the  unsound  prin- 
ciple of  Protestant  ascendency,  failed  to  bring  peace 
and  contentment  to  the  unhappy  country ;  Pitt's 
enlightened  policy  of  creating  a  solidarity  of 
material  interests  between  the  two  nations  by 
abolishing  the  restrictions  upon  Irish  trade  inter- 
course with  England,  and  through  England  with 
the  British  colonies,  broke  down  on  the  selfish 
opposition  of  the  English  commercial  classes  ;  and 
when,  stimulated  by  the  revolutionary  propaganda 
of  France,  the  unrest  in  the  sister  island  had  cul- 
minated in  the  great  rebellion  of  17.98,  it  was 
(37) 


38  GEORGE  CANNING 

recognised  that  nothing  short  of  a  complete  read- 
justment of  the  relations  between  the  two  countries 
would  give  any  chance  of  a  permanent  and  a  satis- 
factory settlement.  On  22nd  January,  1799,  a 
royal  message  was  brought  down  to  the  House  of 
Commons  suggesting  the  legislative  Union  between 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

In  view  of  the  unhappy  fact  that  the  ' '  final  ad- 
justment "  of  the  Irish  question  seems,  after  a 
hundred  years,  as  remote  as  ever,  Canning's  reasons 
for  supporting  the  Unionist  policy  of  Pitt  have  still 
an  interest  more  than  historical ;  and,  if  we  elimi- 
nate the  note  of  confidence  and  hope  which  at  first 
inspired  them,  they  are  as  cogent  at  the  outset  of 
the  twentieth  century  as  they  were  at  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth.  In  general  Canning's  attitude 
towards  the  question  of  the  Union  was  singularly 
illustrative  of  his  political  principles.  No  one,  after 
reading  his  speeches,  can  accuse  him  of  taking  a 
low  view  of  a  great  problem,  or  of  a  cynical  desire 
to  exploit  the  woes  of  Ireland  for  the  advantage  or 
security  of  Great  Britain.  Yet,  the  end  being  in 
his  view  salutary  for  both  countries,  he  is  not 
concerned  to  inquire  too  anxiously  into  the  purity 
of  the  means  employed  for  its  attainment.  Hold- 
ing the  views  he  did  on  constitutional  questions, 
he  was  not  likely  to  be  impressed  by  the  argument 
that  the  members  of  the  Irish  Parliament  did  not 
represent  the  will  of  the  Irish  people.  By  what- 


CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION    39 

ever  constituency  elected,  theirs  was  the  undoubted 
right  to  dispose  of  the  destinies  of  the  nation,  and 
to  dispute  this  right  was  to  loosen  the  structure 
of  the  Union  between  England  and  Scotland,  long 
accepted  by  both  peoples,  which  rested  on  no 
firmer  foundation.  He  poured  scorn  also  on  the 
charge  that  the  Parliament  in  Dublin  could  only 
be  gained  over  to  the  policy  of  union  by  intimida- 
tion and  corruption.  The  former  could  be  so  easily 
disproved ;  the  latter  was  at  least  incapable  of 
proof.  It  was  no  business  of  English  ministers  to 
inquire  into  the  process  by  which  Irish  members 
had  arrived  at  a  conclusion  which  they  believed  to 
be  in  the  best  interests  of  both  countries. 

It  is  easy,  of  course,  to  criticise  this  line  of 
argument,  which,  to  a  generation  saturated  with 
democratic  principles,  appears  disingenuous  ;  and  it 
is  precisely  from  this  point  of  view  that  in  our  own 
day  the  Union  has  been  most  bitterly  attacked. 
Yet  it  is  easier  to  condemn  the  means  actually 
employed  than  to  suggest,  under  the  circumstances 
of  those  days,  any  practical  alternative  by  which  a 
policy  believed  to  be  so  essential  to  the  welfare  of 
both  countries  could  be  carried  through.  The  Act 
of  Union,  in  fact,  must  be  judged  upon  its  merits,  and 
its  framers  by  their  motives.  If  the  goal  was  worth 
striving  for,  we  may  be  content  to  overlook  the  mud 
splashed  on  the  clothes  of  the  racers  :  the  accident  of 
the  stormy  times  and  of  roads  not  yet  made  straight. 


40  GEORGE  CANNING 

To  Canning  at  least  the  goal  seemed  superlatively 
worth  attaining.  To  him  it  seemed  that  the  legis- 
lative Union  was  the  sole  method  of  escape  from  a 
state  of  things  which  was  at  once  a  misery  to  Ireland 
and  a  menace  to  Great  Britain.  Nor  would  he 
admit  for  a  moment  that  in  voting  away  their 
independence  the  representatives  of  Ireland  had 
sold  the  interests  of  their  country.  In  reply  to 
Sheridan,  who  compared  the  project  of  the  Union 
to  the  annexations  of  Napoleon,  and  who  warned 
the  House  of  Commons  against  "  imitating  French 
practices,  while  reprobating  French  principles,"  he 
denied  the  validity  of  the  parallel.  What  com- 
parison, he  asked,  could  there  be  between  the 
unwilling  tributaries  of  a  foreign  Power  and  a  nation 
admitted,  as  the  result  of  a  free  contract,  into  full 
partnership  with  the  greatest  Empire  on  earth  ? 
The  moral  of  the  parallel,  indeed,  might  be  exactly 
reversed  ;  for  as  long  as  the  Irish  Parliament  re- 
mained independent,  the  Irish  people  were  subject 
to  the  British  Empire,  without  having  the  smallest 
voice  in  its  affairs.  By  its  union  with  that  of  Great 
Britain  the  Irish  Parliament  would,  in  fact,  receive 
an  immense  accession  of  power  and  prestige.  "  Look 
at  other  essential  rights  and  powers  of  a  Parliament, 
and  see  how  they  can  be  made  to  belong  to  a  separate 
and  unconnected  Parliament  in  Ireland,  or  how  they 
can  be  effectually  exercised  by  it.  The  right  of 
impeachment,  can  that  be  exercised  by  the  Parlia- 


CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION    41 

raent  of  Ireland  against  the  King's  ministers  in 
Great  Britain  ?  And  yet  does  anybody  doubt  that 
the  King's  British  ministers  are  his  proper  and 
constitutional  advisers  in  respect  to  the  affairs  of 
Ireland  as  well  as  to  those  of  the  Empire  at  large  ? 
The  power  of  altering  or  limiting  the  succession  of 
the  Crown — the  Crown  of  Ireland  as  well  as  Great 
Britain — who  shall  deny  that  power  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Great  Britain  ?  To  ascribe  the  same  power 
to  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  would  be  treason. 
Where,  therefore,  do  there  exist,  or  where  can 
there  exist,  that  perfect  equality  and  independ- 
ence, which  it  is  imagined  the  Irish  Parliament 
must  resign  the  moment  that  it  ceases  to  be 
distinct  from  that  of  Great  Britain  ? 

"  But  if  this  be  all  that  the  Irish  Parliament  is 
to  keep  and  maintain  by  keeping  its  separate 
state,  let  us  next  see  what  it  will  lose  by  in- 
corporation with  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 
Let  us  see  which  of  its  powers  or  privileges  will 
be  abridged,  what  salutary  and  important  function 
it  will  be  disabled  from  exercising,  when  it  shall 
be  received  into  the  bosom  of  this  Parliament,  and 
made  part  of  the  general  superintending  legislature 
of  the  Empire.  To  watch  over  the  local  and  im- 
mediate interests  of  a  country,  and  to  preserve  its 
interests,  peace  and  tranquillity,  is  one  great  duty 
of  a  Parliament :  another  is,  to  guard  and  improve 
the  civil  and  political  rights  of  the  people,  and  the 


42  GEORGE  CANNING 

laws  and  institutions  on  which  they  rest.  For 
which  of  these  functions  will  the  Irish  Parliament 
be  disqualified,  when  united  with  that  of  Great 
Britain  ?  Will  it  be  less  qualified  to  adjust  and 
to  control  the  local  feuds  and  animosities  arising 
from  religious  differences  in  Ireland,  when  removed 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  immediate  influence  of 
every  sudden  and  varying  gust  of  popular  frenzy  ? 
Instead  of  being  committed  as  a  party,  it  becomes 
an  impartial  judge  of  the  conflict,  when  it  is  placed 
in  a  situation  which  enables  it  to  weigh  every 
claim  with  dispassionate  calmness  and  dignity,  to 
resist  what  may  be  extravagant  without  the  ap- 
pearance of  enmity,  and  concede  to  the  Catholics 
what  may  remain  to  be  conceded  without  the 
appearance  of  intimidation,  and  without  hazard 
to  its  own  authority  and  power.  If  we  consider 
the  various  other  objects  of  legislation,  in  matters 
of  commerce,  of  civil  liberty  and  of  political  con- 
stitution, will  the  people  of  Ireland  feel  their 
interests  less  safe,  their  rights  and  privileges  less 
guarded,  when  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  watch 
over  them  shall  sit  among  the  guardians  of  the 
British  Constitution,  and  when  no  law  shall  be 
passed  affecting  the  condition  of  an  Irishman, 
which  does  not  include  in  its  operation  millions 
of  his  fellow-subjects  in  Great  Britain  ? " 

It  is  of  course  an  easy  thing,  in  the  light  of  subse- 
quent history,  to  throw  ridicule  on  these  arguments. 


CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION    43 

Canning's  vision  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  forti- 
fied by  the  presence  of  the  representatives  of  Ire- 
land, discussing  Irish  affairs  "with  dispassionate 
calmness  and  dignity,"  has  hardly  been  realised. 
Nor  can  it  truthfully  be  said  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Irish  people  have  felt  their  interests  safe  in  the 
hands  of  the  guardians  of  the  British  Constitution, 
or  that  Ireland  since  the  Union  has  never  been 
made  the  subject  of  exceptional  legislation.  Into 
the  reasons  for  these  unhappy  truths  it  is  no  part 
of  my  task  to  enter.  Canning  himself  lived  to  see 
his  confidence  belied,  and  declared  later,  as  mem- 
ber for  the  Irish  constituency  of  Tralee,  that  had 
he  foreseen  the  attitude  of  the  British  Parliament 
to  Irish  affairs  he  would  have  hesitated  before  giv- 
ing his  vote  for  the  Union.  Yet  his  arguments 
for  the  Union  remained,  and  remain,  sound.  He 
realised  that  Ireland  was  suffering  from  a  sickness 
at  once  moral  and  material.  The  moral  sickness 
was  due  to  the  irreconcilable  religious  differences, 
having  their  roots  deep  down  in  Irish  history, 
which  made  a  settlement  from  within  well-nigh 
impossible.  The  "final  settlement"  of  1782  had, 
as  he  pointed  out  in  answer  to  Sheridan,  in  fact 
settled  nothing,  for  in  it  "  the  word  catholic  never 
occurred  "  ;  and  what  manner  of  "  settlement "  was 
that  which  left  out  of  account  three-quarters  of 
the  population  ?  "  Catholic  emancipation  "  Can- 
ning regarded  as  absolutely  essential  to  preserve 


44  GEORGE  CANNING 

Ireland  from  a  repetition  of  the  troubles  of  '98, 
a  question  not  so  much  of  abstract  right  as  of 
supreme  expediency.  But  the  Irish  Parliament, 
living,  moving  and  having  its  being  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  Protestant  ascendency,  would  never  con- 
sent to  commit  political  suicide  by  yielding  the 
vote  to  the  Catholic  majority.  "  Catholic  eman- 
cipation," in  fact,  could  only  be  brought  about  by 
merging  the  Irish  Parliament  in  the  larger  entity 
of  that  of  Great  Britain  which,  representing  on  the 
whole  a  similar  point  of  view,  would  prevent  it 
from  being  swept  away  in  a  revolution  which 
would  have  completely  overset  the  traditional 
balance  of  Irish  life.  It  was  this  fact  which,  as 
Canning  pointed  out,  enabled  the  Government  to 
hold  out  to  the  Catholics,  as  an  inducement  to  vote 
for  the  Union,  the  prospect  of  emancipation,  and 
to  the  Protestants  the  certainty  of  being  secured 
from  a  Catholic  domination.  In  this  double  pro- 
mise there  was  nothing  to  justify  the  scornful 
attacks  of  the  Opposition. 

If  the  moral  sickness  of  Ireland  was  thus  obvious, 
the  material  sickness  was  not  less  so  ;  and  the  cure, 
in  Canning's  opinion,  was  the  same.  The  necessity 
for  this  cure,  he  said,  "argues  no  blame  to  the 
people,  or  to  the  Government,  of  Ireland.  The 
fault  is  in  the  nature  of  things  :  in  the  present 
disposition  of  property,  and  division  of  the  classes 
of  society,  in  that  country.  They  want  commerce, 


CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION    45 

they  want  capital,  they  want  a  generally  diffused 
spirit  of  industry  and  order ;  they  want  those 
classes  of  men  who  connect  the  upper  and  lower 
orders  of  society,  and  who  thereby  blend  together 
and  harmonise  the  whole.  But  it  is  not  an  Act  of 
Parliament  that  would  effect  these  great  and  bene- 
ficial objects  ;  no,  it  is  only  by  a  connection  with  a 
country,  which  has  capital,  which  has  commerce, 
which  has  that  middle  class  of  men,  of  whom 
skill  and  enterprise,  and  sober  orderly  habits  are 
the  peculiar  characteristics  ;  it  is  by  such  a  con- 
nection alone,  diffusing  these  blessings,  diffusing 
the  means  of  wealth,  and  the  example  and  en- 
couragement of  industry  throughout  the  sister 
kingdom  ;  it  is  by  such  a  connection  that  so  great 
and  beneficial  a  change  must  be  effected."  Partial 
remedies  had  been  tried,  with  but  partial  success. 
Moreover  these  remedies  had  taken  the  form  of 
concessions,  as  was  inevitable  ;  for  Ireland,  as  an 
independent  nation,  could  have  no  right  to  demand 
equality  of  privilege  with  Great  Britain.  But,  once 
incorporated  with  England  and  Scotland,  she  would 
be  enabled  to  claim  of  right  what  had  hitherto 
been  yielded  only  as  a  matter  of  grace,  and 
would  enter  into  a  full  share  of  Britain's  imperial 
heritage. 

Such,  in  brief,  were  Canning's  views  on  the 
Union ;  or  perhaps  it  would  be  truer  to  say  Pitt's 
views  as  reflected  through  Canning's  mind,  In 


46  GEORGE  CANNING 

expressing  them  he  could  honestly  declare  that  he 
had,  from  first  to  last,  the  best  interests  of  Ireland 
at  heart.  In  replying  to  Sheridan,  during  the 
debate  on  the  royal  message,  while  doing  full 
justice  to  the  patriotic  motives  of  the  eloquent 
Irishman,  he  declared  that  he  too,  though  not  born 
in  Ireland,  was  connected  with  that  country  by  the 
closest  ties  of  blood  and  sympathy.  And,  if  his 
confident  arguments  were  to  a  sorry  extent  dis- 
proved in  the  sequel,  this  was  not  that  they  were 
in  themselves  unreasonable,  but  that  he  had  in  his 
lofty  view  of  the  character  and  functions  of  the 
governing  powers  exaggerated  the  part  played  by 
reason  in  their  august  brains.  Certainly  if  the 
Union  failed  to  produce  the  results  he  had  expected 
of  it,  the  fault  was  not  his,  nor  Pitt's. 

The  Act  of  Union  was  passed  on  2nd  August, 
1800  ;  but  the  promised  emancipation  of  the  Catho- 
lics did  not  follow.  In  making  this  promise,  in 
fact,  Pitt  had  neglected  to  reckon  with  the  narrow 
and  stubborn  mind  of  his  royal  master.  George 
III.  absolutely  refused  to  consider  a  proposal  which 
would,  in  his  view,  constitute  a  breach  of  his 
coronation  oath  to  defend  the  Protestant  religion, 
and  in  this  attitude  he  was  encouraged  by  a  power- 
ful and  influential  party  in  Parliament  and  at  court. 
When,  in  the  first  session  of  the  united  Parliament, 
in  1801,  Pitt  introduced  the  promised  Relief  Bill, 
the  King  requested  him  to  withdraw  it.  The 


CANNING  AND  THE  IRISH  QUESTION    47 

honour  as  well  as  the  policy  of  the  Prime  Minister 
was  bound  up  with  the  fulfilment  of  his  undertaking 
to  the  Irish  Catholics ;  and,  realising  the  hopeless- 
ness of  carrying  the  measure  through  in  face  of 
the  King's  attitude,  he  resigned  his  office.  With 
him  Canning  went  into  retirement. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   DEATH    OF   PITT 

Marriage — Canning  and  Addington — Speech  on  the  island 
of  Trinidad  (Slave  Trade) — Canning  an  Irish  member — 
The  peace  of  Amiens  —  Pitt's  last  administration— 
Napoleon  Emperor  of  the  French  —  The  new  Coali- 
tion— Battles  of  Trafalgar  and  Austerlitz — Death  of 
Pitt — "  Ministry  of  all  the  Talents  " — Death  of  Fox — 
Portland  Administration  —  Canning  at  the  Foreign 
Office. 

DURING  the  first  five  years  of  his  parliament- 
ary life  Canning  had  been  bound  to  his 
leader,  not  only  by  the  ties  of  willing  allegiance, 
but  by  the  straitness  of  his  means,  and  by  the  fact 
that  he  sat  as  the  representative  of  a  close  borough. 
The  defect  of  poverty  he  had  already  cured  at  the 
time  of  Pitt's  retirement.  On  8th  July,  1800, 
he  married  Joan  Scott,  younger  daughter  and 
coheiress  of  General  Scott,  who  had  divided  be- 
tween his  daughters  what  was  at  that  time  the 
great  fortune  of  £200,000,  accumulated  by  his 
skill  and  good  luck  at  the  gaming  table.  The 
elder  sister  was  already  married  to  the  Duke  of 
(48) 


CEOKGE    CANNING 
From  an  engraving  by  B.  Lane 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  49 

Portland.  The  match  was,  therefore,  not  only 
advantageous  from  the  pecuniary  point  of  view, 
but  also  gave  to  the  young  politician,  who  had 
hitherto  possessed  no  influence  save  that  derived 
from  his  own  talents,  the  advantage  of  a  power- 
ful family  connection. 

Of  this  improved  state  of  his  fortunes  Canning 
was  determined  to  take  full  advantage,  in  order  to 
secure  that  independence  without  which,  even  as 
a  boy,  he  had  declared  that  neither  "blessings  of 
fortune"  nor  "distinctions  of  station"  could  bring 
any  true  satisfaction.  His  position  in  Parliament 
after  Pitt's  retirement  was  to  him  increasingly 
intolerable.  The  reins  of  government,  which 
Pitt  had  dropped,  were  in  the  feeble  hands  of 
Addington  ;  the  strenuous  policy  of  pursuing  the 
war  to  a  definite  issue  was  exchanged  for  a  tem- 
porising policy  of  peace ;  and  Pitt,  though  deposed, 
watched  in  silence  the  unravelling  of  his  work. 
Canning,  bound  to  follow  the  example  of  the 
leader  on  whose  patronage  he  depended  for  his 
seat,  chafed  at  the  enforced  inaction.  He  vented 
his  impatience  in  letters  to  his  friends.  "  I  would 
have  cut  off  my  right  hand,"  he  wrote  on  29th 
October,  1801,  to  Lord  Boringdon,  "rather  than 
have  signed  this  treaty  (with  France) ! "  and,  in 
the  same  letter,  he  added  :  "  I  mean  to  have  an 
independent  seat  in  Parliament ;  I  mean  never  to 
set  my  foot  within  the  House  of  Commons  again, 
4 


50  GEORGE  CANNING 

till  I  can  speak  and  act  in  that  House  according 
to  my  own  judgment  purely,  without  reference 
to  the  will  of  any  other  man ".  For  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Parliament,  in  fact,  he  maintained 
silence,  except  for  one  speech  :  that  on  the  culti- 
vation of  the  newly  acquired  colony  of  Trinidad. 
This  speech  is  interesting,  not  only  as  the  first 
mention  in  the  House  of  Commons  during  the 
nineteenth  century  of  a  subject  which,  as  Adding- 
ton  pointed  out,  had  been  allowed  to  sleep  for  five 
or  six  years,  but  as  the  first  public  declaration 
of  Canning's  own  views  on  the  question  of  the 
abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade.  The  occasion  was 
the  moving  by  Canning  himself  of  an  address  to 
the  Crown  praying  that  any  grants  of  public  lands 
in  the  new  colony  should  be  made  only  under  such 
conditions  as  should  prevent  any  increase  in  the 
traffic  in  slaves,  and  that  regulations  should  be 
made  for  promoting  the  cultivation  of  the  island 
"in  the  manner  least  likely  to  interfere  with  the 
gradual  diminution  and  ultimate  termination  of  the 
Slave  Trade".  In  making  this  motion  Canning 
pointed  out  that  the  House  of  Commons  had 
twice  endorsed  the  general  principle  on  which 
it  was  based  ;  once  on  2nd  April,  1792,  when  it 
had  agreed  to  the  motion  "  that  the  Slave  Trade 
ought  to  be  gradually  abolished  "  ;  and  again  on 
6th  April,  1797,  when  it  had  passed  an  address 
to  the  Crown  to  the  effect  "  that  His  Majesty 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  51 

would  direct  such  measures  to  be  taken  as  should 
gradually  diminish  the  necessity  for  and  ultimately 
lead  to  the  termination  of  the  Slave  Trade  ".  Into 
the  general  question,  then,  he  did  not  feel  called 
upon  to  enter ;  but  the  present  occasion  seemed  to 
him  eminently  favourable  for  giving  to  accepted 
principles  practical  expression,  without  imperil- 
ling any  of  those  vested  interests  which  all  of 
them  were  called  upon  as  far  as  possible  to 
respect.  For,  unless  special  precautions  were 
taken,  the  opening  up  to  British  enterprise  of 
the  island  of  Trinidad,  a  country  eminently  suit- 
able for  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar  cane,  would 
not  only  create  new  vested  rights,  but  would  tend 
"  to  create  a  new  slave  trade  "  for  the  special  sup- 
ply of  the  island.  To  obviate  "  the  shame  and 
danger  "  attending  this,  Canning  suggested  that 
the  importation  of  negroes  from  Africa  to  the 
new  colony  should  be  forbidden,  and  furthermore 
that  the  public  lands  should  be  distributed,  not  in 
great  estates  to  capitalists,  but  in  small  holdings 
to  European,  creole,  or  free  negro  settlers,  so  as 
to  lay  the  basis  in  the  new  colony  "  of  a  natural 
population,  which  is  alone  the  great  cure  for  all 
evils  that  are  suffered,  and  all  that  are  appre- 
hended in  that  quarter  of  the  world ". 

In  advancing  these  arguments  Canning  declared 
that  his  appeal  was  not  to  extremists  on  either  side, 
but  to  moderate  men  of  all  parties.  With  "that 


52  GEORGE  CANNING 

select  class "  who  admired  the  Slave  Trade  for 
itself  he  said  that  he  could  have  no  argument.  "  It 
requires,"  he  said,  "a  degree  of  fellow-feeling  to 
be  able  even  to  differ  in  discussion  to  any  purpose. 
One  must  settle  at  what  point  the  difference 
begins ;  but  such  persons  must  have  their  minds 
altogether  so  differently  constituted,  their  senti- 
ments, affections  and  passions  must  be  so  unlike 
anything  that  I  can  conceive,  that  I  avow  my 
incapacity  to  understand  them,  and  my  despair  of 
making  them  understand  me.  To  their  opposition, 
therefore,  I  must  make  up  my  mind  :  but  I  trust  to 
theirs  only.  The  other  class  to  which  I  have 
alluded  is  one  whose  opposition  I  should  be  con- 
cerned to  have  to  encounter ;  that  of  those  with 
whom  from  the  beginning  I  have  cordially  agreed 
in  opinion  respecting  the  necessity  of  abolishing 
the  Slave  Trade.  I  trust  it  will  not  be  felt  by  such 
persons  that  the  proposition  which  I  offer,  because 
a  modified,  is  an  unsatisfactory  one.  I  know  that 
in  minds  of  a  sanguine  cast  such  a  feeling  is  apt  to 
prevail ;  that  partially  to  redress  a  grievance  is 
often  erroneously  conceived  and  represented  as 
giving  sanction  and  establishment  to  all  that  part 
which  you  leave  as  you  found  it ;  and  that  this 
feeling  is  even  sometimes  carried  so  far  as  to  rejoice 
in  any  increase  of  the  grievance,  from  the  notion 
that  it  must  ensure  and  accelerate  the  total  remedy. 
But  this  doctrine  is  surely  to  be  received  with 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  53 

some  qualification.  First,  indeed,  it  may  possibly 
be  true,  where  those  who  are  to  bear  the  ill,  and 
those  who  are  to  administer  the  remedy,  are  the 
same  persons.  And,  in  any  case,  the  augmentation 
of  the  ill  might  be  so  great,  that  no  man  would  be 
justified  in  consenting  to  it  on  a  precarious  hope 
of  ultimately  hastening  the  remedy.  But  in  this 
case  it  was  obviously  not  desirable  to  increase  the 
oppression  in  order  to  force  the  oppressed  to  resist." 

I  have  quoted  these  paragraphs  from  Canning's 
speech  because,  though  directed  to  a  particular 
occasion,  they  have  an  application  for  all  time, 
and  because  they  are  highly  characteristic  of  the 
peculiar  sanity  of  his  point  of  view.  That  he  felt 
deeply  on  the  question  of  the  slave  traffic  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  In  the  speech  we  have  been 
considering  there  is  more  of  natural  feeling,  and 
less  of  studied  art,  than  in  many  of  his  more  famous 
orations.  Yet  he  is  never  carried  by  emotion 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  possible.  The  bulk  of 
his  argument  is  engaged  with  figures  and  statistics  ; 
his  concern  is,  not  to  enlarge  on  the  splendour  of 
principles  already  accepted,  but  to  prove  the  ex- 
pediency from  the  mundane  point  of  view  of  their 
immediate  application.  After  all,  God  did  not 
give  men  wings ;  on  the  great  majority  he  even 
laid  the  serpent's  curse. 

Canning's  motion,  though  lost,  was  not  in  vain. 
It  drew  from  Addington  a  promise  that  the  whole 


54  GEORGE  CANNING 

question  of  the  Slave  Trade  would  be  raised  by  the 
Government  during  the  next  session,  an  assurance 
with  which  even  Wilberforce  declared  himself  for 
the  time  being  satisfied. 

After  the  dissolution  of  1802  Canning,  true  to 
the  resolution  above  expressed,  resigned  his  can- 
didature for  Newport,  and  was  returned  as  an 
independent  member  for  the  Irish  borough  of 
Tralee.  He  now  felt  himself  free  to  express  at 
large  his  views  on  the  Addington  Administration, 
and  to  agitate,  in  season  and  out,  for  the  return 
of  Pitt  to  power.  In  Parliament,  he  threw  himself 
into  irregular  opposition  to  the  Government,  and 
overwhelmed  the  "  doctor  " — as  with  questionable 
taste  he  nicknamed  the  Prime  Minister  (whose 
father  had  been  a  country  physician) — with  criti- 
cism and  ridicule.  Outside,  he  made  his  home 
in  Conduit  Street  the  centre  of  an  agitation 
directed  to  the  same  end  ;  and  even  furbished 
up,  for  use  against  the  degenerate  Tory  Govern- 
ment, the  poetical  weapons  which,  since  the  days 
of  the  Anti-Jacobin,  had  been  laid  aside. 

If  the  health  and  the  strength  and  the  pure  vital  breath 
Of  old  England,  at  last  must  be  doctor'd  to  death, 
Oh  !  why  must  we  die  of  one  doctor  alone  ? 
And  why  must  that  doctor  be  just  such  a  one 
As  Doctor  Henry  Addington  ? 

It  was,  above  all,  the  weak  and  compromising 
spirit  of  the  new  Prime  Minister  that  roused  his 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  55 

wrath.  "  Since  Pitt,"  said  Count  Nesselrode  some 
years  later,  "  England  has  been  better  governed 
by  mediocrities  than  by  geniuses."  With  this 
opinion  of  the  Russian  statesman  Canning  would 
hardly  have  agreed  ;  but,  in  any  case,  it  had  no 
present  application,  for  Pitt  still  lived  ;  and,  with 
Pitt  alive,  mediocrity  at  the  helm  of  State  would, 
under  any  circumstances,  have  been  an  absurdity. 
In  the  actual  state  of  affairs,  with  Napoleon's 
power  yet  unbroken,  it  seemed  to  Canning  more 
than  an  absurdity.  The  safety  of  England  was,  in 
his  opinion,  bound  up  with  the  continuance  of  the 
vigorous  policy  of  Pitt ;  and  "  moderate  men  and 
moderate  measures  "  constituted  a  serious  peril  to 
the  State.  That  is  his  justification  for  giving  to 
the  world  the  following  poem  : — 

MODERATE  MEN  AND  MODERATE  MEASURES 

Praise  to  placeless  proud  ability, 

Let  the  prudent  Muse  disclaim  ; 
And  sing  the  statesman — all  civility — 

Whom  moderate  talents  raise  to  fame. 
He,  no  random  projects  urging, 

Makes  us  wild  alarms  to  feel ; 
With  moderate  measures,  gently  purging 

Ills  that  prey  on  Britain's  weal. 

CHORUS 

Gently  purging, 

Gently  purging, 

Gently  purging  Britain's  weal. 


56  GEORGE  CANNING 

Addington,  with  measured  motion, 

Keep  the  tenor  of  thy  way  ; 
To  glory  yield  no  rash  devotion, 

Led  by  luring  lights  astray  ; 
Splendid  talents  are  deceiving  ; 

Tend  to  councils  much  too  bold  ; 
Moderate  men  we  prize,  believing, 

All  that  glitters  is  not  gold. 

GBAND  CHORUS 

All  that  glitters, 

All  that  glitters, 

All  that  glitters  is  not  gold. 

But  Canning  was  not  content  with  attacking  the 
Ministry  in  front  and  in  flank  with  satirical  verses 
and  outspoken  criticism.  He  even  bombarded 
Pitt  himself  with  letters,  adjuring  him  to  cease 
from  sulking  in  his  tent,  and  once  more  to  take 
the  lead  of  England  in  her  time  of  danger.  This 
tendency  to  lecture  at  large,  and  to  instruct  his 
betters  in  the  way  they  should  go,  did  not  increase 
Canning's  popularity.  Men  commented  disparag- 
ingly on  this  youthful  upstart,  whose  head  had  been 
turned  by  premature  success.  "  He  had  been 
forced  like  a  thriving  plant  in  a  well-managed  hot- 
house," said  Lord  Malmesbury,  "  had  prospered  too 
luxuriantly ;  had  felt  no  check  or  frost ;  and  too 
early  in  life  had  had  many  and  too  easy  advantages." 
His  haughty  manner,  moreover,  and  his  impatience 
of  the  petty  prejudices  of  rank  or  office,  increased 
this  unfavourable  impression ;  and  he  reaped  in 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  57 

full  measure  the  reward  of  those  who  do  the  right 
thing  in  the  wrong  way. 

That  he  was  in  essence  right  the  sequel  was  to 
prove.  The  short-lived  peace  of  Amiens  had 
ended  on  18th  May,  1803,  but  it  had  lasted  long 
enough  to  proclaim  to  all  the  world  the  hollowness 
of  the  arguments  of  those  who  had  opposed  the 
war  with  France.  The  overtures  begun  by  the 
British  Government  had  led  Napoleon  to  misread 
the  temper  of  the  British  people ;  and  he  had  used 
the  respite  allowed  him  by  the  temporary  triumph 
of  the  peace  party  to  continue  his  high-handed 
acts  of  aggression.  The  renewal  of  the  war  became 
inevitable  ;  and  with  the  renewal  of  the  war  the 
return  of  Pitt  to  power.  Canning  set  himself  with 
renewed  ardour  to  hasten  this  latter  consummation. 
He  supported  the  Government,  indeed,  in  its 
demand  for  the  supplies  necessary  for  the  increased 
armaments  called  for  by  the  denunciation  of  the 
Treaty  of  Amiens ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  ex- 
claimed that  "  men  and  not  measures "  were 
wanted,  and  that,  while  he  was  far  from  objecting 
to  the  large  military  establishments  proposed,  "for 
the  purpose  of  coping  with  Bonaparte,  one  great 
commanding  spirit  was  worth  them  all "  ;  and  on 
23rd  June,  1803,  in  the  debate  on  Colonel  Patten's 
motion  of  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  in  the 
Government,  when  Pitt  himself  moved  the  previous 
question,  he  spoke  and  voted  against  his  leader. 


58  GEORGE  CANNING 

The  motion  was  lost ;  but  Canning's  purpose  was 
none  the  less  served ;  for  the  debate  disclosed  a 
state  of  opinion  in  the  House  from  which  the 
Government,  already  somewhat  discredited,  never 
recovered.  Pitt,  who  had  been  merely  biding  his 
time,  began  to  throw  himself  into  opposition  ;  and 
the  weight  of  his  criticism,  added  to  that  of  Canning, 
proved  fatal  to  the  Ministry.  In  May,  1804,  the 
Addington  Government  fell,  and  the  King  sent 
once  more  for  Pitt. 

The  two  years  of  Pitt's  last  Administration  were 
destined  to  be  the  most  momentous  in  the  history 
of  Great  Britain ;  and  Pitt  himself  was  very  con- 
scious of  the  tremendous  issues  at  stake.  In  view 
of  the  greatness  of  the  crisis  he  endeavoured  to 
form  a  strong  Government  on  a  comprehensive 
basis,  and  to  this  end  approached  Fox  with  a  view 
to  a  coalition.  But  Fox  refused  to  take  office,  well 
knowing  that  he  would  be  hampered  at  every  turn 
by  the  hostility  of  the  King ;  and  his  friends 
refused  to  join  the  Government  without  him. 
Canning  had  made  it  clear  to  his  leader  that  in 
his  opinion  a  stable  Administration  could  only  be 
erected  on  the  basis  of  a  coalition  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  placed  his  services,  in  any  event,  at  his 
disposal ;  and  when  Pitt  was  forced  to  patch  up  a 
Ministry  out  of  the  debris  of  the  Addington  Cabinet, 
he  took  office  under  it  as  Treasurer  of  the  Navy. 
The  Government,  weak  from  the  outset,  was  still 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  59 

further  shaken  by  the  impeachment  of  Lord 
Melville  for  misappropriating  the  funds  of  the 
Admiralty ;  and  upon  Pitt  alone,  old  before  his 
time  and  shaken  by  the  disgrace  and  ruin  of  his 
friend,  was  laid  the  whole  burden  of  the  nation's 
safety  in  a  time  of  unparalleled  danger  and  anxiety. 
On  18th  May,  1804,  only  a  few  days  after  the 
King  had  sent  for  Pitt,  Napoleon  proclaimed  him- 
self Emperor  of  the  French,  a  title  then  of  greater 
significance  than  now  ;  and  against  the  world-wide 
ambition  implied  in  it  England  alone  was  in  arms. 
To  crush  this  implacable  opposition  to  his  plans 
the  Emperor  was  assembling  a  vast  armament  at 
Boulogne,  with  a  view  to  the  invasion  of  England. 
His  power  was  already  swelled  by  the  tribute  in 
money  and  men  of  the  subject  states  ;  and  during 
the  year  it  became  apparent  that  it  was  about  to 
receive  a  still  further  increase  by  the  accession  of 
Spain,  under  the  corrupt  and  incompetent  leader- 
ship of  the  Queen's  lover,  Godoy.  In  December 
the  Spanish-French  coalition  was  an  acknowledged 
fact,  and  England  declared  war  against  Spain. 
In  view  of  these  accumulating  perils,  Pitt  exerted 
himself  to  the  uttermost  to  renew  the  European 
coalition  against  France  ;  and  by  September,  1805, 
he  had  so  far  succeeded  that  Russia,  Austria, 
Sweden  and  Naples  were  once  more  leagued 
together  against  the  common  emeny.  In  the 
following  month,  moreover,  all  danger  of  an  in- 


60  GEORGE  CANNING 

vasion  of  England  was  dissipated  by  Nelson's 
victory  of  Trafalgar.  This,  however,  was  the  last 
triumph  of  Pitt's  strenuous  career.  On  2nd  Decem- 
ber was  fought  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  which 
shattered  his  plans  and  broke  his  spirit.  Less 
than  two  months  later,  on  2 1st  .January,  1806,  the 
great  statesman,  worn  out  with  work  and  anxiety, 
and  prematurely  old  at  forty-seven,  passed  away. 

The  death  of  Pitt  for  the  time  set  back  the  rapid 
progress  of  Canning's  advancement.  The  retire- 
ment of  Lord  Harrowby  from  the  Secretaryship  of 
Foreign  Affairs  in  December,  1805,  had  revealed 
to  Pitt  the  weakness  of  his  Cabinet ;  and  when, 
next  year,  the  negotiations  which  he  once  more 
opened  with  the  Whig  leaders  failed,  he  began  to 
make  arrangements  for  including  Charles  Yorke 
and  Canning  in  the  Cabinet.  The  prestige  given 
to  the  Government  by  the  victory  of  Trafalgar  had 
postponed,  however,  the  necessity  for  change  ;  and 
with  the  death  of  Pitt  the  Ministry  broke  up. 
But  the  death  of  Pitt  not  only  deprived  Canning 
of  a  patron  ;  it  left  him  in  the  position,  more  or  less, 
of  a  political  free  lance.  ' '  To  one  man,  while  he 
lived,"  he  declared  in  a  speech  at  Liverpool,  six 
years  later,  "  I  was  devoted  with  all  my  heart  and 
all  my  soul.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Pitt  I 
acknowledge  no  leader  ;  my  political  allegiance  lies 
buried  in  his  grave." 

Pitt  being  no  more,  even  the  prejudiced  mind  of 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  6l 

the  old  King  could  not  but  realise  that  his  great 
rival  Fox  was  the  only  possible  leader  in  the  crisis 
of  the  nation's  affairs.  The  coalition  Ministry,  for 
which  Pitt  had  striven  in  vain,  was  thus  rendered 
possible ;  and  Fox  assumed  the  reins  of  power. 
In  the  "  Ministry  of  all  the  Talents,"  formed  in 
February,  1806,  Canning  was  offered  a  place.  He 
refused  on  the  ground — curiously  illuminative  of 
his  essential  Toryism — that  in  its  composition  the 
King's  wishes  had  not  been  sufficiently  consulted, 
and  threw  himself  into  opposition  as  the  leader  of 
the  party  known  as  Pitt's  friends.  His  attitude 
was  dictated  mainly  by  his  distrust  of  Fox's  foreign 
policy,  which,  while  it  recognised  the  present 
necessity  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  was 
ever  directed  to  the  discovery  of  an  opportunity  of 
coming  to  terms  with  Napoleon.  On  one  great 
question,  indeed,  he  found  himself  in  general  agree- 
ment with  the  Government.  On  31st  March,  1806, 
Fox  introduced  a  motion  in  favour  of  the  abolition 
of  the  Slave  Trade.  Canning,  while  declaring  that 
"he  thought  it  impossible  for  the  ingenuity  of 
man  to  devise  a  form  of  words  contributing  to  the 
repeal  of  the  Slave  Trade  that  he  should  not  concur 
in,"  criticised  the  Government  for  merely  bringing 
forward  once  more  an  abstract  motion  which  had 
twice  already  received  the  assent  of  the  Commons, 
and  "  lamented  that  the  House  had  not  the  subject 
more  fully  before  them  ".  The  motion,  such  as  it 


62  GEORGE  CANNING 

was,  was  the  last  one  made  by  the  great  Whig 
leader  in  Parliament.  On  13th  September  of  the 
same  year  he  followed  Pitt  to  the  grave. 

The  Government  of  which  he  had  been  the 
leading  spirit  did  not  long  survive  him.  During 
his  illness,  Grey  had  once  more  opened  negotia- 
tions with  Canning  with  a  view  to  his  inclusion  ; 
but  the  latter  had  refused  his  adhesion  so  long 
as  Fox's  fate  was  yet  uncertain,  and  the  chance 
of  a  compromise  with  France  yet  remained.  Fox 
was  succeeded  at  the  Foreign  Office  by  Lord 
Howick  ;  but  before  he  had  been  many  months 
in  office  the  Ministry  to  which  he  belonged  came 
to  an  honourable  end.  In  March,  1807,  a  bill  was 
introduced  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  Catholics, 
who  were  already  permitted  to  serve  in  the  army 
in  Ireland,  to  hold  commissions  in  England.  The 
proposal,  reasonable  in  itself,  and  still  more  so  in 
view  of  the  obvious  inconvenience  of  the  actual 
conditions,  was  wrecked  once  more  on  the  rock 
of  the  King's  unyielding  bigotry.  On  24th  March 
the  Ministry  of  all  the  Talents  was  dissolved. 
Canning  composed  its  epitaph  in  the  following 
verses : — 

ALL  THE  TALENTS 

When  the  broad-bottom'd  Junto,  with  reason  at  strife, 
Resign'd,  with  a  sigh,  its  political  life ; 
When  converted  to  Rome,  and  of  honesty  tired, 
They  gave  back  to  the  devil  the  soul  he  inspired. 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  63 

The  demon  of  Faction  that  over  them  hung, 
In  accents  of  horror  their  epitaph  sung  ; 
While  Pride  and  Venality  join'd  in  the  stave, 
And  canting  Democracy  wept  at  the  grave. 

"  Here  lies  in  the  tomb  that  we  hallow' d  for  Pitt, 
Consistence  of  Grenville,  of  Temple  the  wit ; 
Of  Sidmouth  the  firmness,  the  temper  of  Grey, 
And  treasurer  Sheridan's  promise  to  pay. 

"  Here  Petty 's  finance,  from  the  evils  to  come, 

With  Fitzpatrick's  sobriety  creeps  to  the  tomb  ; 

And  Chancellor  Ego,  now  left  in  the  lurch, 

Neither  dines  with  the  Jordan,  nor  whines  for  the  church, 

"  Then  huzza  for  the  party  that  here  is  at  rest, 

By  fools  of  a  faction  regretted  and  bless'd ; 

Though  they  sleep  with  the  devil,  yet  theirs  is  the  hope, 

On  the  downfall  of  Britain  to  rise  with  the  Pope." 

Considering  Canning's  own  views  on  the  question 
of  Catholic  emancipation,  it  is  hard  to  acquit  him  of 
having  himself  been  somewhat  inspired  by  "the 
Demon  of  Faction  "  when  he  penned  the  above 
lines. 

The  task  of  constructing  a  new  Administration 
was  entrusted  to  Canning's  kinsman,  the  Duke  of 
Portland,  a  nobleman  of  indolent  character  and 
little  given  to  speech,  but  honourable,  and  of  a 
conciliatory  temper,  invaluable  in  holding  together 
a  Ministry  in  which  were  represented  very  diver- 
gent views  and  tendencies.  The  late  Government 
had  fallen  on  the  question  of  Emancipation  ;  and 
it  was  certain  that  no  Ministry  could  live  that 


64  GEORGE  CANNING 

should  attempt  to  pass  measures  favourable  to  the 
Catholic  claims.  The  new  Government  was,  in 
effect,  founded  upon  a  basis  of  uncompromising 
Protestantism,  which  found  its  chief  exponents  in 
Lord  Eldon,  the  Chancellor,  and  Perceval,  whose 
influence  in  the  Cabinet,  backed  as  he  was  by  the 
support  of  the  King,  outweighed  that  of  the  more 
tolerant  Prime  Minister.  And  in  this  Government 
Canning,  a  consistent  upholder  of  the  Catholic 
claims,  was  offered  a  place  with  Cabinet  rank. 
That  he  accepted  it  was  proclaimed  by  his  enemies 
to  be  the  final  proof  of  his  unscrupulous  ambition  ; 
and  he  himself  recognised  the  necessity  for  justify- 
ing his  action.  His  support  of  Emancipation  had 
from  the  first  been  the  outcome  rather  of  a  belief 
in  its  expediency,  than  of  any  deep-seated  con- 
viction of  its  abstract  justice  ;  and,  now  that  he 
realised  that  its  attainment  was  impossible  during 
the  life  of  George  III.,  he  did  not  think  that  that 
alone  should  prevent  him  from  sharing  in  the  work 
of  a  Government  with  which,  on  all  other  points, 
he  was  in  sympathy.  Therefore,  on  the  offer  of 
the  Secretaryship  for  Foreign  Affairs  being  made 
to  him,  he  accepted  it,  convinced  that  he  was  well 
qualified  to  carry  on  the  great  work  of  the  states- 
man who  had  been  his  master.  Thus,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-seven,  Canning  was  a  Cabinet  Minister, 
and  entrusted  with  the  oversight  of  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  country  at  a  time  of  singular 


THE  DEATH  OF  PITT  65 

danger  and  difficulty.  Among  his  colleagues  were 
some  whose  names  were  destined  in  the  future  to 
be  closely  associated  with  his.  Lord  Castlereagh, 
in  some  sort  already  his  rival  and  competitor,  was 
Secretary  at  War ;  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  (after- 
wards Duke  of  Wellington),  whose  military  genius 
it  is  one  of  Canning's  merits  to  have  early  recog- 
nised and  employed,  was  Secretary  for  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  V 

AT   THE   FOREIGN   OFFICE 

Napoleon  and  Alexander — Treaty  of  Tilsit — bombardment 
of  Copenhagen  —  The  continental  blockade — England 
and  the  United  States — Napoleon  and  Spain — The 
Peninsular  War  —  The  Walcheren  Expedition  —  Can- 
ning's duel  with  Castlereagh. 

CANNING  had  not  been  long  at  the  Foreign 
Office  before  developments  took  place  on  the 
continent  which  called  out  every  quality  of  fore- 
sight and  resolution  for  which  he  was  distinguished. 
On  14th  June,  1807,  Napoleon  defeated  the  Rus- 
sians at  Friedland  ;  on  the  22nd  an  armistice 
was  arranged ;  and,  two  days  later,  took  place 
the  momentous  meeting  between  the  Emperor 
and  the  Tsar  Alexander  I.  at  Tilsit.  On  the 
field  of  battle  the  Russian  arms  had  been  over- 
come by  Napoleon's  military  skill ;  in  the  con- 
ference the  impressionable  mind  of  the  Russian 
autocrat  was  taken  captive  by  Napoleon's  genius 
and  vast  political  imagination.  France  and  Russia 
united  could  rule  the  world  ;  their  division  merely 
served  the  selfish  ends  of  commercial  England  ;  and 

(66) 


GEORGE   CANNING   AS   A   YOUNG   MAN 
From  the  picture  oy  A.  Hickel  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Crewe 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  67 

Napoleon  dazzled  the  eyes  of  Alexander  with  a 
vision  of  the  Empires  of  the  East  and  West  re- 
stored, and  holding  the  balance  of  the  world.  But 
for  the  opposition  of  Great  Britain  the  Western  Em- 
pire was  already  re-established  in  his  own  person ;  it 
would  be  easy  for  the  Russian  to  overset  the  totter- 
ing fabric  of  the  Ottoman  power,  and  re-erect  on 
the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus  the  orthodox  Empire 
of  the  East.  Here,  too,  all  that  was  needed  was 
the  destruction  of  the  British  sea-power.  The 
plan  was  one  which  appealed  irresistibly  to  Alex- 
ander's grandiose  imagination;  and  he  threw  him- 
self into  it,  for  the  time,  heart  and  soul.  The 
immediate  result  was  the  signature  of  the  Treaty 
of  Tilsit. 

Austria  had  been  overthrown  at  Austerlitz, 
Prussia  at  Jena.  By  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit  Russia 
became  a  party  to  the  "  continental  system "  of 
Napoleon  devised  against  England  and  enunciated 
in  the  Berlin  decrees.  But  this  was  not  all.  It 
came  to  the  ears  of  the  British  Government  that, 
by  additional  secret  articles  of  the  treaty,  arrange- 
ments were  to  be  made  to  unite  the  whole  of  the 
naval  forces  of  the  continent  in  one  vast  effort  to 
wrest  from  England  the  supremacy  of  the  seas.  As 
the  nucleus  of  this  combination  the  fleet  of  Den- 
mark was  to  serve. 

The  situation  was  one  of  extreme  peril  to  Eng- 
land, and  also  one  of  extreme  difficulty.  When 


68  GEORGE  CANNING 

the  battle  of  Trafalgar  was  fought,  nearly  the 
whole  continent  had  been  in  arms  against  France. 
Nelson's  victory  had  wrecked  the  sea-power  of 
France  ;  but  this  was  now  to  be  reinforced  by 
that  of  Powers  hitherto  friendly  to  England  ;  and 
against  such  a  combination  it  was  doubtful  whether, 
in  the  long  run,  Great  Britain  would  be  able  to 
hold  her  own.  The  position  was  complicated  by 
the  fact  that  Denmark,  on  whom  the  new  Alliance 
chiefly  reckoned,  was  still  nominally  neutral  ; 
though  it  was  obvious  that  her  neutrality  would 
not  long  withstand  the  combined  pressure  of  the 
French  and  Russian  Empires,  even  if  she  had  not 
already  become  a  party  to  their  plans. 

Under  these  circumstances  Canning  saw  the 
necessity  for  immediate  and  bold  action.  No 
sooner  had  the  terms  of  the  secret  articles  of 
Tilsit  been  communicated  to  him,  than  he  de- 
spatched a  strong  British  armament,  under  Lord 
Cathcart,  to  demand  that  the  Danish  fleet  should 
be  handed  over  to  Great  Britain,  to  be  held  till  the 
conclusion  of  the  war.  The  not  unnatural  refusal 
of  the  Danish  Government  to  comply  with  this 
demand  was  followed  by  the  bombardment  of 
Copenhagen  and  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
fleet  of  Denmark. 

That  this  prompt  action  saved  England  from 
the  most  dangerous  combination  that  had  ever 
threatened  her  independence  was  proved  by  evi- 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  69 

dence  subsequently  published.  At  the  time,  how- 
ever, it  had  all  the  appearance  of  a  wanton  act  of 
international  piracy  ;  and  as  such  it  was  denounced, 
not  only  by  the  Powers  whose  plans  it  had  over- 
turned, but  by  many  voices  of  weight  in  Parliament. 
The  Government  laboured  under  the  disadvantage 
of  not  being  able  to  give  proof  of  the  existence  of 
the  secret  articles,  which  were  the  justification 
of  its  policy,  without  betraying  the  confidence 
of  those  by  whom  they  had  been  communicated. 
Canning,  in  reply  to  those  who  in  a  tone  of 
righteous  indignation  denounced  him  for  this 
murderous  attack  on  a  friendly  Power  in  time  of 
peace,  the  true  character  of  which  it  was  sought 
to  cover  by  a  transparent  subterfuge,  could  only 
stand  on  his  integrity,  and  declare  that  he  was 
in  the  possession  of  arguments  which  he  was  not 
at  liberty  to  publish  to  the  world.  Happily  the 
House  believed  him  ;  and  a  vote  of  censure  moved 
against  him  was  rejected  by  a  large  majority. 

Meanwhile,  the  situation  created  by  the  policy 
of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  was  leading  to 
complications  in  somewhat  unexpected  directions. 
The  closure  of  all  the  ports  of  the  continent  to 
goods  carried  in  British  vessels  came  as  a  god- 
send to  the  hitherto  struggling  oversea  trade  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  business 
instincts  of  transatlantic  "  Anglo-Saxons  "  did  not 
permit  any  sentimental  sympathy  with  the  mother- 


70  GEORGE  CANNING 

country  in  her  life  and  death  struggle  with 
Napoleon,  or  any  Republican  antipathy  to  the 
wrecker  of  republics,  to  prevent  them  from  taking 
advantage  of  so  obvious  an  opening  for  profit.  To 
meet  this  situation,  the  British  Government  replied 
to  the  "  Decrees  "  by  the  "  Orders  in  Council,"  by 
which  a  blockade  of  the  whole  continent  was 
established,  and  British  ships  of  war  were  ordered 
to  intercept  all  trading  vessels  attempting  to  enter 
continental  ports.  In  answer  to  this  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  passed  the  "  Non-intercourse 
Act,"  prohibiting  commercial  relations  with  either 
combatant.  At  a  time  when  the  trade  of  Great 
Britain  with  Jamaica  alone  exceeded  by  £1,000,000 
the  whole  of  her  trade  with  the  United  States, 
this  was  no  very  serious  blow  to  British  prosperity  ; 
but  it  still  further  strained  the  relations  between 
the  two  nations,  and  roused  a  bitterness  of  feeling 
which  was  intensified  by  a  series  of  incidents, 
not  in  themselves  very  serious,  but  important  in 
their  cumulative  effect.  The  cruel  discipline  of 
British  ships  of  war  led  to  constant  desertions  to 
American  vessels,  on  which  pay  was  higher  and 
treatment  better.  At  American  ports,  too,  British 
seamen  would  slip  on  shore,  sign  papers  of  natural- 
isation— a  process  then  as  now  extremely  easy — and 
defy  their  officers  to  lay  hands  on  free  American 
citizens.  Under  these  circumstances  the  wrath  of 
zealous  captains  was  apt  to  break  through  the 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  71 

technical  entanglements  of  misused  international 
law  ;  and  the  United  States  Government  com- 
plained of  American  territory  violated ;  of  American 
citizens  forcibly  carried  on  board  British  men-of- 
war  ;  and  of  American  vessels  held  up  on  the  high 
seas  and  searched  for  British  deserters.  The 
trouble  culminated  at  last  in  the  affair  of  the 
Chesapeake,  an  American  ship  which  had  offered 
armed  resistance  to  the  right  of  search  claimed  by 
a  British  war  vessel.  The  American  was  worsted, 
some  of  her  crew  slain,  and  not  only  a  certain 
number  of  British  deserters,  but  also  some  genuine 
Americans,  were  detained  in  custody. 

This  was  an  episode  too  serious  to  be  over- 
looked ;  and  Canning  made  it  the  occasion  for 
attempting  to  arrive  at  some  general  agreement 
with  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
such  as  should  obviate  the  increasing  risk  of  an 
appeal  to  arms.  To  this  end  Mr.  Erskine  was 
sent  out  to  Washington  to  arrange  a  settlement 
on  a  basis  of  mutual  concession.  Great  Britain 
was  willing  to  admit,  and  to  repair  as  far  as 
possible,  the  wrong  done  by  the  violent  seizure 
of  the  Chesapeake  ;  but  only  on  condition  that  the 
American  Government  should  repudiate  the  claim 
of  its  Commodore  to  protect  British  deserters. 
Furthermore,  England  demanded  the  abrogation 
of  the  proclamation  of  2nd  July,  1807,  by  which 
American  ports  had  been  closed  to  British  ships, 


72  GEORGE  CANNING 

while  remaining  open  to  those  of  France.  Un- 
fortunately, Erskine,  in  his  anxiety  to  arrive  at 
a  settlement,  yielded  all  the  demands  of  the 
American  Government  without  insisting  on  any 
of  the  quid  pro  quos  contained  in  his  instructions. 
On  learning  what  he  had  done,  Canning  at  once 
recalled  him  in  disgrace  ;  but  the  mischief  was, 
unhappily,  beyond  repair.  The  playful  policy  of 
"  twisting  the  lion's  tail,"  so  successfully  inaugur- 
ated, was  continued,  until  it  culminated  in  the 
war  of  1812. 

For  the  time  being,  however,  the  annoyances 
arising  from  the  aggressive  attitude  of  a  young 
nation  as  ignorant,  as  it  was  intolerant,  of  the 
traditional  code  of  international  courtesy,  were 
as  nothing  compared  with  the  vast  issues  at  stake 
upon  the  European  continent.  Alone  of  contin- 
ental states  Portugal,  bound  by  old  treaties  with 
England,  still  held  out  against  Napoleon's  con- 
tinental system.  The  Portuguese  Government, 
indeed,  in  response  to  a  peremptory  order  issued 
from  Tilsit,  ordered  the  detention  of  all  Englishmen 
resident  in  the  country,  and  laid  an  embargo  upon 
all  British  property.  But  these  measures  had  been 
carried  out  tardily,  in  order  to  allow  Englishmen 
time  to  sell  their  property  and  to  leave  the 
country.  The  delay  was,  in  the  eyes  of  Napoleon, 
sufficient  excuse  for  carrying  out  the  policy  which 
he  had  all  along  had  in  view  :  that  of  the  absorp- 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  73 

tion  of  Spain  and  Portugal  into  his  own  dominions. 
On  18th  October,  1807,  a  French  army,  under 
Marshal  Junot,  entered  Spain.  Less  than  three 
months  later,  King  Charles  IV.,  who,  with  his  son 
Ferdinand,  the  Prince  of  the  Asturias,  had  obeyed 
Napoleon's  order  to  meet  him  at  Bayonne,  resigned 
his  crown  into  the  hands  of  the  French  Emperor. 
This  was  on  5th  May.  On  15th  June  Joseph 
Bonaparte  was  proclaimed  King  of  Spain. 

The  establishment  of  a  Bonaparte  on  the  throne 
of  Spain  seemed  to  have  set  the  key-stone  in  the 
arch  of  Napoleon's  Empire.  The  policy  of  Louis 
XIV.,  against  which  the  War  of  the  Spanish 
Succession  had  been  waged  a  century  before,  and 
which  had  been  for  ever  barred  by  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,  appeared  to  have  been  carried  through, 
almost  without  a  blow,  by  the  French  Emperor. 
By  a  stroke  of  the  pen  the  political  barrier  of 
the  Pyrenees  had  been  razed,  and  Spain  had 
become,  not  so  much  a  kingdom  bound  to  that 
of  France  by  a  family  compact,  as  a  vassal  state 
of  the  French  Empire.  But  in  his  calculations 
Napoleon  had  overlooked  one  fatal  factor.  Hitherto 
his  dealings  had  been  exclusively  with  the 
dynasties  of  Germany  or  Italy,  artificial  creations 
of  an  unpopular  principle,  and  easy  to  overturn, 
because  infirmly  based  ;  in  Spain  he  found  him- 
self face  to  face  with  a  people  passionate  in  its 
nationalism,  to  which  long  centuries  of  contest 


74  GEORGE  CANNING 

with  alien  and  infidel  forces  had  given  the  fervour 
ef  a  religious  creed.  The  Spaniards,  deserted  by 
their  feeble  King,  themselves  took  up  arms  to 
defend  the  kingship — centre  and  symbol  of  their 
national  independence  —  which  the  degenerate 
Bourbons  had  sold  for  a  price.  Napoleon,  for 
the  first  time,  found  himself  confronted  by  a 
people  in  arms. 

Canning,  ever  on  the  look-out  for  fresh  weapons 
wherewith  to  wound  the  all-devouring  ambitions  of 
Napoleon,  at  once  recognised,  and  determined  to 
take  advantage  of,  the  new  situation.  It  was 
nothing  to  him  that  Spain  had,  in  the  hour  of 
England's  greatest  peril,  added  her  fleet  to  that  of 
France,  in  the  attempt  to  wrest  from  her  the 
mastery  of  the  seas.  That  had  been  the  act,  not 
of  the  voiceless  people  of  Spain,  but  of  the  corrupt 
minions  of  the  court,  whose  treason  to  the  national 
cause  was  now  stinking  in  the  nostrils  of  all  the 
world.  Whatever  its  past  record,  said  Canning, 
in  a  speech  delivered  on  the  very  day  that  Joseph 
Bonaparte  was  declared  King,  "any  nation  that 
resists  the  common  enemy  becomes  instantly  our 
ally ".  Upon  this  principle  the  Government  was 
prompt  to  act.  Portugal,  the  old-time  ally  of 
England,  was  naturally  the  first  object  of  solicitude. 
By  the  Emperor's  orders  Junot  had  pressed  on 
through  Spain  with  a  view  to  occupying  Portugal 
before  the  end  of  November,  1807;  and,  on  his 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  75 

near  approach,  the  Portuguese  royal  family  had, 
on  the  advice  of  Great  Britain,  fled  the  country 
and  transferred  the  centre  of  Government  to 
Brazil.  Next  day  the  French  entered  Lisbon. 
They  were  not,  however,  to  remain  long  in 
possession.  On  1st  August  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
landed  with  an  English  force  at  Figueras  ;  on  the 
21st  he  won  over  Junot  the  battle  of  Vimiero,  and, 
had  he  not  been  superseded  on  the  field  of  victory, 
would  have  completed  the  ruin  of  the  French 
army.  As  it  was,  the  prudence  of  Sir  Harry 
Burrard  and  Sir  Hugh  Dalrymple,  his  superior 
officers,  led  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Convention  of 
Cintra,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  French  force, 
with  arms  and  stores,  were  to  be  transferred  in 
British  ships  to  the  coast  of  France. 

Into  the  momentous  events  which  now  followed 
on  the  continent  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  enter  in 
any  detail.  On  the  news  of  the  reverse  suffered 
by  the  French  arms  in  Portugal,  Napoleon  deter- 
mined to  take  the  field  himself  for  the  purpose  of 
completing  the  subjugation  of  the  Peninsula.  To 
counteract  this  the  expedition  of  Sir  John  Moore 
into  Spain  was  undertaken ;  an  effort  which 
resulted  in  the  disastrous  retreat  of  the  British 
and  in  the  hardly  won  victory  of  Corunna,  which 
allowed  the  English  army  to  embark  in  safety. 
Corunna  was  fought  on  l6'th  January,  1809.  The 
declaration  of  war  by  Austria  against  Napoleon 


76  GEORGE  CANNING 

the  expectation  of  which  had  already  led  the 
Emperor  to  leave  Spain,  followed  on  9th  April. 
This,  together  with  popular  risings  in  the  Tyrol 
under  Andreas  Hofer,  arid  in  Prussia  under  Colonel 
Schill,  pointed  to  the  possibility  of  a  fresh  coalition 
against  France,  and  the  British  Government,  dis- 
couraged for  the  time  by  the  unsatisfactory  Con- 
vention of  Cintra  and  the  failure  of  Sir  John 
Moore's  invasion  of  Spain,  once  more  redoubled 
its  exertions.  On  22nd  April  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
landed  in  Portugal  to  assume  the  supreme  com- 
mand, and  the  Peninsular  War,  which  was  destined 
to  sap  the  power  of  Napoleon,  was  begun. 

The  importance  of  the  campaign  in  the  Peninsula 
was  recognised,  though  not  to  its  full  extent,  from 
the  outset.  That  the  lesson  of  Cintra  was  learned, 
and  Wellesley  appointed  to  the  supreme  command 
over  the  heads  of  officers  whose  seniority  would 
have  given  them  the  right  to  the  post,  was  largely, 
if  not  mainly,  due  to  the  insistence  of  Canning. 
He  was  less  successful  in  persuading  his  colleagues 
to  concentrate  their  attack  on  this  most  vulnerable 
spot  of  Napoleon's  defences.  The  declaration  of 
war  by  Austria  had  suggested  a  diversion  in  her 
favour  elsewhere  ;  and  Lord  Castlereagh  planned 
an  attack  in  force  on  Napoleon's  great  arsenal  at 
Antwerp.  The  outcome  of  the  ill-fated  Walcheren 
expedition  was  due  to  the  incompetence  of  its 
leader,  Lord  Chatham,  rather  than  to  any  defects 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  77 

in  the  scheme  itself,  which,  had  it  succeeded, 
would  undoubtedly  have  dealt  a  serious  blow  to 
Napoleon's  power.  None  the  less  it  greatly  dis- 
credited the  Government  ;  and,  incidentally,  by 
revealing  an  intolerable  state  of  tension  within  the 
Cabinet,  led  up  to  the  crisis  which  caused  its 
downfall. 

Canning  had  for  some  little  time  had  cause  to 
complain  of  the  tendency  of  the  War  Office  to 
encroach  on  the  sphere  of  his  own  department  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  Contrary  to  his  wish,  the  war  in 
the  Peninsula  had  been  "  starved  "  for  the  sake  of 
the  unfortunate  Walcheren  venture  ;  and  the  Con- 
vention of  Cintra,  which  lay  even  more  indisputably 
within  his  province,  had  actually  been  endorsed  by 
the  Cabinet  in  his  absence.  He  now  approached 
the  Duke  of  Portland  with  a  proposal  for  the  re- 
arrangement of  business  in  such  a  way  as  more 
clearly  to  define  the  boundary  line  between  the 
War  Office  and  that  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Failing 
such  a  readjustment,  he  declared  that  either  he 
or  Lord  Castlereagh  must  resign. 

The  duke,  between  good  nature  and  indolence, 
promised  and  procrastinated.  Canning  had  first 
broached  the  matter  in  April,  1810  ;  by  June 
nothing  had  been  done.  He  now  offered  his 
resignation  ;  but  withdrew  it  on  being  pressed, 
notably  by  several  of  Castlereagh's  friends,  to  wait 
till  the  result  of  the  Walcheren  expedition  should 


78  GEORGE  CANNING 

be  known.  After  the  capture  of  Flushing  he 
insisted  that  the  present  was  the  most  suitable 
time  for  carrying  through  the  suggested  changes, 
and  now  learned  for  the  first  time  that  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  never  been  informed  of  his  de- 
mands. He  promptly  declared  that  he  would 
continue  to  hold  office  only  until  his  successor 
should  be  appointed.  At  the  same  time  Lord 
Castlereagh,  now  at  last  perforce  informed,  handed 
in  his  resignation. 

That  in  this  matter  Castlereagh  had  received 
but  scant  consideration  was  only  too  clear  ;  and  the 
only  doubt  was  as  to  whose  was  the  door  at  which 
the  fault  lay.  To  Castlereagh  himself  it  was  plain 
that  Canning  was  responsible  ;  and,  immediately 
after  his  resignation,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  him, 
in  which  he  stigmatised  his  conduct  in  appearing 
openly  to  support  him,  while  secretly  intriguing 
against  him,  as  "a  breach  of  every  principle  of 
good  faith,  both  public  and  private,"  and  demand- 
ing "satisfaction".  In  face  of  this  direct  challenge, 
Canning,  according  to  the  social  code  of  the  time, 
had  no  choice  of  reply.  The  challenge  was 
accepted ;  and,  on  21st  September,  the  two  states- 
men met  on  Putney  Heath.  Two  shots  were 
exchanged  without  result  ;  but  at  the  second 
discharge  Canning  fell,  wounded  in  the  thigh. 
The  wound  was  not  a  serious  one  ;  and  on  1 1  th 
October  he  was  able  to  attend  the  levee,  when  he 


LORD  CASTLEREAGH 
(SECOND  MARQUIS  OF  LONDONDERRY) 

From  the  portrait  by  Lawrence  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery 


AT  THE  FOREIGN  OFFICE  79 

tendered  his  resignation.  The  Portland  Ministry 
did  not  long  survive  the  loss  of  two  of  its  most 
conspicuous  members.  Huskisson  had  resigned  at 
the  same  time  as  his  friend  Canning.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  Duke  of  Portland  died  ;  and  the 
Administration  was  broken  up.  Twelve  eventful 
years  were  destined  to  pass  before  Canning  was 
again  to  direct  the  foreign  policy  of  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL   FREE-LANCE 

Canning  and  j  ournalism — His  poems — Madness  of  George  III. 
— The  Regency  question — Murder  of  Perceval — Lord 
Liverpool  Premier — Canning  refuses  office — Catholic 
emancipation — Member  for  Liverpool — Canning  and 
parliamentary  reform — Free  Trade — Speech  on  the  pro- 
secution of  the  war — Embassy  to  Lisbon— President 
of  the  Board  of  Control. 

THE  period  succeeding  the  dissolution  of  the 
Portland  Administration  Canning  spent  in 
comparative  retirement,  mainly  at  Gloucester 
Lodge,  the  house  between  Brompton  and  Ken- 
sington which  he  had  bought  from  the  Princess 
Sophia  in  1807.  While  keeping  a  keen  eye  on 
the  developments  of  politics,  he  devoted  much  of 
his  leisure  to  literary  interests.  He  had  had  a 
considerable  share  in  founding  the  Quarterly  Review 
in  1807  ;  and  he  was  at  no  time  insensible  to  the 
great  position  held  by  the  press  in  the  world  of 
politics,  or  to  the  importance  of  the  good-will  of 
writers  and  artists  to  the  career  of  a  politician.  To 
his  diplomatic  kindness  it  was  partly  due  that  the 
(80) 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  81 

coarse  and  powerful  quill  of  the  caricaturist  Gilray 
was  never  turned  against  him,  but  used  to  rein- 
force the  onslaught  of  the  Anil- Jacobin  on  the 
"  French  "  party.  In  the  days  when  journalism 
was  still  under  the  social  ban,  Canning  had  himself 
condescended  for  a  while  to  become  a  journalist ; 
and  in  his  last  great  speech  at  Liverpool  he  pro- 
claimed, in  a  passage  of  splendid  and  characteristic 
eloquence,  the  new  and  mighty  part  played  by  a 
free  press  in  the  constitutional  system  of  the 
country ;  proclaimed  it,  oddly  enough,  as  an 
additional  argument  against  Reform.  "  What 
should  we  think,"  he  said,  "  of  a  philosopher,  who, 
in  writing,  at  the  present  day,  a  treatise  upon  naval 
architecture  and  the  theory  of  navigation,  should 
omit  wholly  from  his  calculation  that  new  and 
mighty  power — new,  at  least,  in  the  application 
of  its  might — which  walks  the  water,  like  a  giant 
rejoicing  in  his  course ; — stemming  alike  the  tempest 
and  the  tide  ; — accelerating  intercourse,  shortening 
distances ; — creating,  as  it  were,  unexpected  neigh- 
bourhoods and  new  combinations  of  social  and 
commercial  relation  ; — and  giving  to  the  fickleness 
of  winds  and  the  faithlessness  of  waves  the  certainty 
and  steadiness  of  a  highway  upon  the  land  ?  Such 
a  writer,  though  he  might  describe  a  ship  cor- 
rectly ;  though  he  might  show  from  what  quarters 
the  winds  of  heaven  blow,  would  be  surely  an 
incurious  and  an  idle  spectator  of  the  progress  of 

6 


82  GEORGE  CANNING 

nautical  science,  who  did  not  see  in  the  power  of 
STEAM  a  corrective  of  all  former  calculations.  So, 
in  political  science,  he  who,  speculating  on  the 
British  Constitution,  should  content  himself  with 
marking  the  distribution  of  acknowledged  technical 
powers  between  the  House  of  Lords,  the  House  of 
Commons  and  the  Crown,  and  assigning  to  each 
their  separate  provinces — to  the  Lords  their  legis- 
lative authority,  to  the  Crown  its  veto  (how  often 
used  ?),  to  the  House  of  Commons  its  power  of 
stopping  supplies  (how  often,  in  fact,  necessary  to 
be  resorted  to  ?) — and  should  think  that  he  had 
thus  described  the  British  Constitution  as  it  acts 
and  as  it  is  influenced  in  its  action ;  but  should 
omit  from  his  enumeration  that  mighty  power  of 
Public  Opinion,  embodied  in  a  Free  Press,  which 
pervades,  and  checks,  and,  perhaps,  in  the  last 
resort,  nearly  governs  the  whole ; — such  a  man 
would,  surely,  give  but  an  imperfect  view  of  the 
government  of  England  as  it  is  now  modified,  and 
would  greatly  underrate  the  counteracting  influences 
against  which  that  of  the  executive  power  has  to 
contend."  Not  the  most  exacting  journalist  could 
demand  a  more  splendid  tribute  to  the  greatness 
of  the  "  fourth  Estate  ". 

The  appreciation  of  journalism  is  one  thing,  that 
of  literature  is  another.  In  the  case  of  the  former 
Canning  could  read  the  signs  of  the  times,  but  not 
in  that  of  the  latter.  With  the  new  licence  of  the 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  83 

romantic  movement  his  severe  classical  taste  could 
have  little  in  common.  Romanticism,  moreover, 
whatever  its  later  tendencies,  was,  or  seemed  to 
be,  for  the  moment  poisoned  with  the  virus  of 
Jacobinism.  None,  indeed — unless  it  were  serious- 
minded  Germans — would  quarrel  with  the  ridicule 
which,  in  the  Anti- Jacobin,  Canning  poured  in 
full  measure  on  the  exaggerated  sentimentalism 
of  the  fashionable  German  drama  of  the  day.  As 
a  parody  of  Schiller's  "  Robbers "  and  Goethe's 
"  Stella,"  "  The  Rovers  "  was,  and  is,  "  excellent 
fooling  ".  A  more  sympathetic  critic  would,  per- 
haps, have  discovered  beneath  the  "storm  and 
stress  "  of  these  youthful  products  of  the  new  age 
of  German  literature  the  signs  of  a  power  that 
promised  greater  things.  But  Canning  was  out 
of  sympathy  with  the  very  first  principles  of 
romanticism.  With  Sir  Walter  Scott,  indeed, 
whose  acquaintance  he  first  made  at  the  table  of 
the  unhappy  Princess  of  Wales,  he  was  soon  on 
terms  of  close  I:.  -Imacy.  In  their  political  prin- 
ciples they  were  at  one  ;  but  Canning  clearly  had 
but  little  appreciation  of  the  peculiar  genius  of 
the  prophet  of  Romance ;  and  his  advice  to  Scott, 
after  reading  his  poems,  to  "  present  himself  in  a 
Drydenic  habit,"  reveals  the  gulf  fixed  between 
them. 

In  those  few  of  Canning's  own  serious  poems 
which   have    been   made   public   "the    Drydenic 


84  GEORGE  CANNING 

habit "  is  sufficiently  displayed,  nor,  though  their 
sentiment  is  unexceptionable,  can  they  be  accused 
of  the  least  touch  of  sentimentality.  This  is  true 
even  of  his  love  poems.  In  them  the  human 
passion,  which  runs  riot  in  the  "  romantic " 
writers,  is  rigorously  subordinated  ;  and  the  lan- 
guage moves  on  the  same  lofty,  and  perhaps 
slightly  artificial,  plane  as  the  sentiments.  These 
qualities  are  well  illustrated  in  the  "Lines  addressed 
to  Miss  Scott  before  Marriage  "  : — 

And  dost  Thou  fear  where  stern  ambition  reigns, 
Schooled  in  the  subtle  Statesman's  selfish  art, 

Love's  jealous  pow'r  divided  rule  disdains, 
And  flies  in  scorn  the  abdicated  heart  ? 

Think' st  Thou  to  him  no  tender  cares  are  dear, 
No  pleasures  sooth  the  calm  domestic  hour, 

Who,  slave  to  Glory,  runs  his  wild  career, 
Mad  in  the  race  for  Fame,  or  strife  for  Pow'r ! 

Hush  Thy  vain  fears,  howe'er  in  other  climes, 
Where  blood-stained  factions  plan  the  foul  intrigue, 

Ambition's  Vot'ry  thrives  by  craft  or  crimes, 
By  bartered  Love,  and  Friendship's  broken  league ! 

Not  such  the  gen'rous  strife  in  Britain's  cause, 

That  cause  to  holiest  charities  allied, 
Where  private  morals  prop  the  public  laws, 

And  man's  best  feelings  combat  on  their  side. 

If  e'er  this  tongue  hath  practised  arts  of  shame, 

Framed  specious  frauds,  or  honest  thoughts  disguised, 

With  base  detraction  stained  a  rival's  fame, 
Or  fawned  upon  the  fool  my  soul  despised ; 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  85 

Then  let  Thy  scorn  pronounce  the  just  decree, 
Bid  me  each  bold  presumptuous  wish  resign, 

111  would  the  mean,  th'  ungenerous  arts  agree 
With  candour,  faith  and  purity  like  Thine ! 

But  if  fair  fame  or  honest  warmth  inspire, 

If  no  inglorious  currents  lave  my  Soul, 
Think  what  new  zeal  my  quickened  course  shall  fire, 

Thy  smile  my  triumph,  and  thy  praise  my  goal ! 

Let  thy  fond  smile,  whate'er  my  fate  may  be, 
Cherish  each  hope  and  calm  each  anxious  fear, 

Each  hope  achieved  but  lifts  me  nearer  Thee, 
Or  foiled  but  makes  thy  cherished  Love  more  dear. 

So  to  proud  heights  shall  fav'ring  Fortune  lead, 
Or  drest  in  frowns  her  fleeting  gifts  recall, 

Firm  in  Thy  faith  the  dang'rous  path  I  tread, 
Or  sheltered  in  thy  arms  forget  my  fall. 

So  while  my  oflfrings  load  Ambition's  shrine, 
Thy  hand  (nor  thou  the  sacred  charge  disclaim  1) 

Thy  hallowing  hand  the  increase  shall  refine, 
And  Love,  which  feeds,  shall  purify  the  flame. 

No  one  can  say  that  these  verses  are  not  whole- 
some and  manly  in  tone  and  full  of  a  lofty  senti- 
ment. Some  of  the  lines  appeal  to  me  also,  I 
confess,  as  beautiful  in  themselves.  Yet,  for  all 
that,  it  is  not  the  poet,  so  much  as  the  man  of 
affairs,  that  is  revealed  in  them.  Not  even  in  this 
intimate  moment  does  the  beloved  object  fill  the 
whole  field  of  the  writer's  vision.  He  cannot 
forget  the  revolutionary  iniquities  of  France,  or 
"the  gen'rous  strife  in  Britain's  cause,"  even  in 


86  GEORGE  CANNING 

hymning  his  mistress  ;  and  his  chief  claim  to  be 
worthy  of  her  love  is  the  delightfully  insular  plea 
that  he  belongs  to  a  country  "where  private 
morals  prop  the  public  laws".  But,  indeed,  we 
ought  not  to  quarrel  with  this  attitude ;  for  it 
was  just  this  unwavering  belief  in  the  incon- 
testable superiority  of  Great  Britain  which  made 
Canning  a  strong  leader  in  a  perilous  crisis  of  the 
nation. 

More  beautiful,  I  think,  are  the  lines  written 
for  the  tomb  of  his  eldest  son,  which  need  no 
comment. 

EPITAPH 

GBOROB  CHARLES  CANNING 
Born  25th  April,  1801 ;  Died  31st  March,  1820 

Though  short  thy  span,  God's  unimpeach'd  decrees, 
Which  made  that  shorten'd  span  one  long  disease, 
Yet,  merciful  in  chastening,  gave  thee  scope 
For  mild,  redeeming  virtues,  faith  and  hope  ; 
Meek  resignation  ;  pious  charity  ; 
And,  since  this  world  was  not  the  world  for  thee, 
Far  from  thy  path  removed,  with  partial  care, 
Strife,  glory,  gain  and  pleasure's  flowery  snare, 
Bade  earth's  temptations  pass  thee  harmless  by, 
And  fix'd  on  heaven  thine  unreverted  eye. 

Oh !  mark'd  from  birth,  and  nurtured  for  the  skies  ! 
In  youth,  with  more  than  learning's  wisdom,  wise  ! 
As  sainted  martyrs,  patient  to  endure ! 
Simple  as  unwean'd  infancy  and  pure ! 
Pure  from  all  stain  (save  that  of  human  clay, 
Which  Christ's  atoning  blood  hath  wash'd  away  !) 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  87 

By  mortal  sufferings  now  no  more  oppress'd, 
Mount,  sinless  spirit,  to  thy  destined  rest ! 
While  I — reversed  our  nature's  kindlier  doom, 
Pour  forth  a  father's  sorrows  on  thy  tomb. 

The  appearances  of  Canning,  meanwhile,  in 
Parliament,  were  comparatively  rare.  The  Port- 
land Administration  had  been  succeeded  by  that 
of  Perceval,  in  which  Lord  Wellesley  occupied 
Canning's  office  of  Foreign  Secretary,  and  Lord 
Liverpool  had  replaced  Castlereagh  at  the  War 
Office.  To  this  Government  Canning  gave  a 
general,  but  independent,  support.  Wellesley 
himself,  as  was  natural  in  Wellington's  brother, 
was  in  favour  of  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war  in  Spain ;  and,  in  three  succeeding  sessions, 
Canning  strongly  supported  the  policy  of  lavish 
expenditure  in  the  Peninsula.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  opposed  the  financial  policy  of  the 
Ministry  in  the  question  of  the  currency,  and  on 
3rd  February,  1812,  he  supported  Lord  Morpeth's 
motion  on  Catholic  emancipation,  a  reform  to 
which  Perceval  was  fanatically  opposed. 

In  1810  the  position  of  the  Tory  Government 
was  threatened  by  the  madness  of  the  old  King, 
which  necessitated  a  Regency.  The  Prince  of 
Wales  had  identified  himself  with  the  Opposition, 
and  Carlton  House  had  long  been  regarded  almost 
as  the  headquarters  of  the  Whigs.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  question  of  the  appointment 


88  GEORGE  CANNING 

and  the  powers  of  the  Regent  became  one  of 
party ;  and  the  Government  brought  in  a  bill 
which,  while  offering  the  Regency  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  considerably  restricted  his  prerogatives. 
In  this  matter  Canning  held  the  authority  of 
Parliament  to  be  supreme ;  and  he  gave  a  general 
support  to  the  restrictions  proposed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, not  as  a  matter  of  right,  but,  as  Pitt 
had  done  in  1788,  on  general  grounds  of  ex- 
pediency. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  fears  of  the 
Tories  were  somewhat  idle.  The  Prince's  Liberal- 
ism had  been  no  more  than  a  pose ;  and  the  less 
than  half-hearted  support  which  he  had  received 
from  his  Whig  friends,  in  his  opposition  to  what 
he  considered  an  invasion  of  his  rights,  served 
as  a  decent  excuse  for  a  change  of  front  which 
would,  in  all  probability,  in  any  case  have  fol- 
lowed his  accession  to  sovereign  power.  His 
attempt  to  oust  the  Perceval  Administration,  by 
commissioning  Huskisson  to  form  a  Ministry,  broke 
down  on  the  latter's  refusal  to  serve  unless  Can- 
ning were  given  a  portfolio ;  for  Canning  was  a 
friend  of  the  unfortunate  Princess  of  Wales,  and 
to  show  sympathy  with  her  was  to  forfeit  the  good- 
will of  her  husband. 

The  Regent,  in  fact,  soon  found  that  he  could 
live  on  comfortable  terms  with  his  courtly  Tory 
advisers  ;  the  Perceval  Ministry  continued  in 
office;  and  when,  in  February,  1812,  the  hope- 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  89 

lessness  of  the  King's  illness  was  recognised,  and 
the  Regency  made  permanent,  the  Government  no 
longer  thought  it  necessary  to  restrict  the  Regent's 
authority.  The  Perceval  Administration  fell,  not 
owing  to  any  ill-will  of  the  Regent,  but  to  an 
irresponsible  crime.  As  early  as  February,  indeed, 
it  had  been  weakened  by  the  resignation  of  Wel- 
lesley,  the  only  real  statesman  in  the  Cabinet,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  thwarted  by  his  colleagues 
in  his  policy  of  pressing  the  war  in  the  Peninsula; 
and  before  his  place  could  be  filled,  it  came  to  an 
end  with  the  assassination  of  the  Prime  Minister  in 
the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons  by  the  mad- 
man Bellingham  on  llth  May. 

In  response  to  a  motion  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons imploring  him  to  appoint  a  strong  Govern- 
ment, the  Regent  instructed  Wellesley  to  attempt 
to  form  a  coalition  Ministry.  The  attempt  failed, 
partly  owing  to  the  doctrinaire  objections  of  the 
Whigs  to  the  form  in  which  they  had  been  ap- 
proached, partly  to  irreconcilable  differences  in  the 
matter  of  the  Catholic  claims.  It  became  necessary 
to  fall  back  upon  the  old  set ;  and  Lord  Liverpool 
was  entrusted  with  the  task  of  reconstructing  the 
Government.  In  his  desire  to  strengthen  it,  he 
approached  both  Wellesley  and  Canning.  But 
Wellesley  refused  to  join  a  Government  pledged 
in  advance  against  the  consideration  of  the 
Catholic  claims.  Canning  also  refused ;  but, 


90  GEORGE  CANNING 

though  he  shared  Wellesley's  views,  not  for  the 
same  reason.  Castlereagh,  who  had  already  been 
installed  in  the  Foreign  Office,  offered  to  resign 
this  in  Canning's  favour,  while  retaining  the 
leadership  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Canning, 
however,  was  persuaded,  not  only  that  he  had  a 
right  to  the  leadership,  but  that,  without  it,  he 
would  be  unable  to  conduct  the  foreign  policy  of 
the  country  effectively;  and  he  refused  to  serve 
unless  the  leadership  were  associated  with  the 
Foreign  Office.  His  terms  were  rejected ;  and 
Castlereagh  was  installed  in  office  for  the  remain- 
der of  his  life.  Canning's  attitude  in  this  matter 
proved,  in  fact,  far  more  momentous  than  he  him- 
self expected  ;  and  he  lived  bitterly  to  regret  it. 
For  fifteen  years  he  was  excluded  from  any 
decisive  influence  in  moulding  the  international 
destinies  of  England,  and  this  during  a  period 
when,  as  he  himself  said,  "  two  years  at  the 
Foreign  Office  would  have  been  worth  ten  years 
of  life  ". 

Canning's  exclusion  from  the  Government  in- 
creased in  some  measure  his  influence  in  moulding 
public  opinion  in  the  country.  His  tongue  was  no 
longer  tied  by  obligations  to  his  party  chiefs  ;  and, 
while  giving  a  general  support  to  the  Government, 
he  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  "blame  with  freedom  " 
whatever  he  thought  amiss  in  the  Administration. 
Above  all,  on  the  great  and  burning  question  of 


Catholic  emancipation  he  once  more  prepared  to 
speak  his  mind.  Hitherto  he  had  kept  silence 
out  of  respect  for  the  feelings  of  the  old  King. 
But  the  "living  reign"  of  George  III.  was  now 
at  an  end  ;  and  there  was  less  reason  to  consult 
the  prejudices  of  the  Prince  Regent.  The  grow- 
ing tension  in  Ireland,  moreover,  clamoured  ever 
louder  for  the  practical  solution  of  a  question 
which  had  already  been  solved  in  principle  by  the 
repeal  of  the  penal  code.  On  22nd  June,  1812, 
accordingly,  Canning  moved  a  resolution  binding 
the  House  of  Commons  "  early  in  the  next  session 
of  Parliament  to  take  into  consideration  the  laws 
affecting  Roman  Catholics,  with  a  view  to  a  final 
and  conciliatory  adjustment  ".  Emancipation  was 
not  destined  to  be  carried  by  Canning,  nor  in  his 
day ;  but  the  voting  on  this  occasion  was  signifi- 
cant of  the  trend  of  opinion.  The  motion,  which 
Canning  supported  on  grounds  both  of  justice  and 
expediency,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  129. 

At  the  close  of  the  session  of  1812  Canning  was 
invited  to  contest  Liverpool,  a  constituency  which 
he  was  destined  to  represent  four  times  in  Parlia- 
ment. The  first  election  contest,  in  which  his  most 
formidable  opponent  was  Brougham,  is  mainly 
memorable  for  the  series  of  speeches  in  which  he 
more  clearly  defined  his  general  political  attitude. 
This  marked,  in  fact,  a  stage  in  the  transition 

*  *  O 

between  traditional  Toryism  and  modern  Conser- 


92  GEORGE  CANNING 

vatism.  He  stated  unequivocally  his  intention  to 
resist  any  tampering  with  the  existing  balance  of 
the  Constitution.  The  Crown,  the  two  Houses  of 
Parliament  and  the  Protestant  establishment  were 
the  four  corner-stones  of  the  firm  foundation  of 
British  liberty  ;  and,  amid  the  universal  downfall, 
the  freedom  so  based  had  alone  survived.  Why 
then  press  for  a  reform  which  would  only  spell 
revolution  ?  Were  the  House  of  Commons  made 
representative  of  the  people's  will,  the  Crown  would 
not  long  survive,  and  still  less  the  House  of  Lords  ; 
for  "  by  what  assumption  could  three  or  four  hun- 
dred proprietors  set  themselves  against  the  national 
will  ?  "  "  Of  popular  representation,"  he  said,  "  I 
think  we  have  enough  for  every  purpose  of  jealous, 
steady,  corrective,  efficient  control  over  the  acts  of 
that  monarchical  power  which,  for  the  safety  and 
the  peace  of  the  community,  is  lodged  in  one  sacred 
family,  and  descendible  from  sire  to  son."  As  for 
the  anomalies  of  the  unreformed  Parliament,  these 
were  of  little  importance  so  long  as  the  system 
worked  well ;  and  that  it  had  on  the  whole  worked 
well  Canning  was  persuaded.  "I  would  have,"  he 
said,  "  in  the  House  of  Commons  a  great  variety  of 
interests,  and  I  would  have  them  find  their  way 
there  by  a  great  variety  of  rights  of  election.  .  .  . 
As  to  the  close  boroughs,  I  know  that  through  them 
have  found  their  way  into  the  House  of  Commons 
men  whose  talents  have  been  an  honour  to  their 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  93 

kind.  I  cannot  think  that  system  altogether 
vicious  which  has  produced  such  fruits."  This 
forecast  reads  strangely  enough  to  those  who  have 
had  fifty  years'  experience  of  the  conservative  in- 
stincts of  the  British  democracy.  It  was  less 
extravagant  at  a  time  when  the  country  was 
seething  with  discontent,  the  King  a  madman, 
and  the  Regent  scandalous  and  unpopular. 

But  if,  in  the  matter  of  parliamentary  reform,  Can- 
ning was  in  opposition  to  the  more  progressive  spirit 
of  his  age,  in  other  questions  he  was  equally  at  odds 
with  the  extreme  Tory  opinions  represented  by  a 
majority  of  the  Cabinet.  His  attitude  on  Catholic 
emancipation  has  already  been  described,  as  well 
as  the  motives  by  which  it  was  determined.  Even 
more  distinctively  Liberal  were  the  views  which, 
as  the  representative  of  a  great  trading  constitu- 
ency, he  was  gradually  impelled  to  adopt  on  the 
abrogation  of  the  existing  restrictions  on  the  free 
development  of  commerce.  Typical  of  this  leaning 
toward  the  principles  of  free  trade  had  been  his 
attitude  in  the  debates  on  the  renewal  of  the  East 
India  Company's  charter  ;  and  it  was  in  part  owing 
to  his  advocacy  that  the  Company's  monopoly  was 
modified  and  India  thrown  open  to  all  British 
traders.  But  if,  in  these  matters,  he  was  in  op- 
position to  a  strong  section  of  the  Government, 
in  the  most  important  issue  before  the  country — 
the  prosecution  of  the  war — he  was  heartily  at  one 


94  GEORGE  CANNING 

with  the  party  in  power.  Twice  during  the  year 
1813  he  spoke  in  Parliament  on  this  subject.  The 
first  speech,  that  of  7th  July,  was  on  the  vote  of 
thanks  to  Lord  Wellington  for  the  victories  in 
Spain  ;  the  second  was  on  a  vote  of  £3,000,000 
for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  Both  speeches  were 
remarkable  examples  of  his  oratory  at  its  best — 
and  at  its  worst.  As  word-pictures  his  description 
of  the  career  of  Napoleon,  and  of  the  effects  of 
his  final  downfall,  was  superb.  His  comparison  of 
the  receding  fortunes  of  the  French  Emperor  with 
the  subsidence  of  a  mighty  flood  "  electrified  the 
House ".  "  The  mighty  deluge  by  which  the 
continent  had  been  overwhelmed,"  he  cried,  "  be- 
gan to  subside.  The  limits  of  nations  were  again 
visible,  and  the  spires  and  turrets  of  ancient  estab- 
lishments began  to  reappear  above  the  subsiding 
wave."  As  a  rhetorical  flight,  or  even  as  poetry, 
this  was  fine  ;  nor  was  it  untrue  from  the  point 
of  view  of  discerning  statesmanship.  Equally 
splendid,  but  infinitely  less  just  and  less  intelli- 
gent, was  the  picture  drawn,  in  the  later  speech, 
of  Napoleon  and  his  work.  He  compared  the 
Emperor  to  that  sinister  Indian  deity  whose 
triumphal  car  passes  over  the  bodies  of  prostrate 
victims.  And  in  the  author  of  the  Code  Napoleon 
who,  whatever  his  colossal  faults,  had  at  least 
brought  to  myriads  of  the  human  race  their  first 
experience  of  enlightened  administration,  and 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  95 

whose  Empire,  illustrated  by  a  thousand  monu- 
ments of  art  or  of  engineering  enterprise,  was 
founded  mainly  upon  the  ruins  of  obsolete  tyran- 
nies—  in  Napoleon  Canning  could  see  only  a 
monster,  whose  guiding  principle  was  "  hostility 
to  literature,  to  light  and  life,"  and  whose  object 
was  "to  extinguish  patriotism,  and  to  confound 
allegiance — to  darken  as  well  as  to  enslave — to 
roll  back  the  tide  of  civilisation — to  barbarise  as 
well  as  to  desolate  mankind". 

It  would  be  interesting,  but  idle,  to  speculate  as 
to  what  part  Canning  would  have  played  in  the  re- 
settlement of  those  portions  of  Europe  left  exposed 
by  the  subsidence  of  the  Napoleonic  flood,  had 
he,  and  not  Castlereagh,  represented  the  voice 
of  England  in  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  Hold- 
ing as  he  did  strong  opinions  as  to  the  rights  of 
nations,  he  would  scarcely  have  acquiesced  quietly 
in  an  arrangement  from  the  foundations  of  which 
the  factor  of  nationality  was  all  but  absolutely  ex- 
cluded ;  and  his  masterful  temper  would  probably 
have  introduced  another,  and  possibly  fatal,  ele- 
ment of  discord  into  the  none  too  cordial  harmony 
of  the  Powers.  On  the  whole,  it  is  probably 
fortunate  for  England  and  for  Europe  that,  at 
that  time,  the  control  of  foreign  affairs  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  more  conciliatory  Castlereagh. 
Canning's  opportunity  of  usefulness  was  to  come 
later,  when  the  European  Alliance  had  done  its 


96  GEORGE  CANNING 

work  in  tiding  the  world  over  a  perilous  crisis  and 
threatened  to  become  a  tyranny  more  mischievous 
than  that  which  it  had  overthrown.  For  the  pres- 
ent the  world  needed  peace ;  and  this  the  Emperor 
Alexander's  dream  of  a  confederated  Europe,  in 
which  for  the  moment  Castlereagh  shared,  tended 
to  secure. 

As  it  was,  Canning  had  no  voice  in  the  great 
discussions  of  the  years  1814  and  1815.  Early 
in  the  former  year  he  determined  to  go  abroad 
for  the  benefit  of  his  son's  health ;  and  very 
opportunely  the  post  of  special  ambassador  to 
Lisbon  was  offered  to  him  and  accepted.  The 
royal  family  of  Portugal  were  about  to  return 
from  their  exile  in  the  Brazils  ;  and,  in  view  of 
the  additional  expenses  likely  to  be  incurred  on  so 
auspicious  an  occasion,  the  salary  attached  to  the 
embassy  was  raised  to  £14,400.  This,  together 
with  the  fact  that  Canning  had  agreed  to  serve 
under  Castlereagh,  after  refusing  to  serve  in  the 
Cabinet  with  him,  caused  his  enemies  to  blas- 
pheme ;  and,  in  1817,  after  his  return  to  the 
Government,  of  which  he  had  become  a  member, 
he  was  attacked  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  what 
was  stigmatised  as  a  piece  of  gross  jobbery  ;  since 
events  had  proved,  what  the  Government  was 
accused  of  knowing  all  the  time,  that  the  Portu- 
guese royal  family  had  no  immediate  intention  of 
returning.  This  attack  Canning  repelled  in  a 


CANNING  AS  A  POLITICAL  FREE-LANCE  97 

brilliant  speech,  in  which  he  refused  to  dissoci- 
ate himself  from  the  Government,  declaring  that, 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  mover  and  seconder 
of  the  motion  to  leave  his  name  out  of  the  count, 
they  had  in  reality  attacked  him  for  "  corruptly  re- 
ceiving what  had  been  corruptly  given"  :  a  charge 
which  he  proceeded  to  refute. 

At  Lisbon  he  remained  for  seventeen  months,  a 
period  covering  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  the  return 
of  Napoleon  from  Elba,  and  the  interlude  of  the 
Hundred  Days.  On  his  return,  in  1816,  he  was 
offered  the  Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Control, 
an  office  equivalent  to  the  present  Secretaryship 
of  State  for  India.  There  was  no  longer  any 
reason  for  his  remaining  outside  the  Cabinet. 
The  war  was  over  ;  and  in  matters  of  domestic 
policy — notably  on  the  great  question  of  Reform — 
he  was  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  Government. 
He  therefore  accepted  office;  and  remained  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Liverpool  Government  until,  on  12th  De- 
cember, 1820,  he  resigned  once  more,  for  reasons 
which  will  be  discussed  later. 


CHAPTER  VII 

AFTER   THE   PEACE 

Castlereagh  and  the  European  Alliance — Condition  of  Eng- 
land —  Canning  and  democracy  —  The  Six  Acts — 
Personal  incidents — Death  of  George  III. — Queen 
Caroline  —  Resignation  of  Canning  —  Offer  of  the 
Governor-Generalship  of  India — Suicide  of  London- 
derry— Canning  returns  to  the  Foreign  Office. 

DURING  the  next  four  years  Canning  had  but 
little  direct  influence  on  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  Government,  and  this  was  confined  to  those 
questions  which,  from  time  to  time,  were  submitted 
by  Castlereagh  to  the  Cabinet.  It  is  necessary, 
however,  to  the  understanding  of  Canning's  policy 
when  he  again  took  up  the  reins  of  foreign 
affairs,  that  we  should  grasp  the  principles  which 
actuated  the  Government  in  their  relations  with 
the  Powers  of  the  continent  during  this  period. 
These  were  determined  mainly  by  the  desire  to 
preserve  peace,  which  they  conceived  to  be  threat- 
ened by  two  things  :  the  revolutionary  spirit  and 
Russian  ambition  ;  and  against  both  these  it  was 
their  policy  to  erect  barriers.  This  being  so,  a 
(98) 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  99 

cordial  co-operation  in  the  "concert"  established 
by  the  Treaty  of  the  Quadruple  Alliance  of  18th 
November,  1815,  was  the  obvious  course  to  pursue  ; 
for  this  treaty  not  only  provided  for  common  action 
against  any  revolutionary  peril  to  the  peace  of 
Europe,  but  incidentally,  by  establishing  a  sort  of 
international  board  of  control  of  the  Great  Powers, 
in  which  each  had  an  equal  voice,  it  made  the 
realisation  of  that  European  dictatorship  at  which 
the  Emperor  Alexander  was  supposed  to  be  aiming 
impossible.  Had  the  conferences  of  the  Powers 
been  based,  as  Alexander  desired,  on  the  principles 
of  the  Holy  Alliance,  every  prince,  great  or  small, 
who  had  signed  that  treaty  would  have  been 
entitled  to  a  voice  in  them,  and  in  such  assemblies 
the  chance  of  Russia's  obtaining  a  preponderating 
influence  would  have  been  much  greater.  But 
with  the  Holy  Alliance  the  other  Powers,  realising 
this,  would,  after  the  first  platonic  expressions  of 
admiration  for  the  lofty  principles  embodied  in  it, 
have  nothing  to  do.  They  preferred  the  more 
certain  balance  of  the  narrower  league  ;  and  their 
energies  were,  at  the  outset,  largely  directed  to 
keeping  the  Russian  Emperor  within  its  bounds. 
In  spite,  however,  of  the  doubts  inspired  by 
Alexander's  enigmatic  character,  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  exalted  idealism  of  his  ostensible 
aims  which  was  bound  to  appeal  to  the  imagina- 
tion of  statesmen  who,  in  the  long  struggle  with 


100  GEORGE  CANNING 

Napoleon,  had  grown  accustomed  to  consider  the 
common  interests  of  Europe  as  one  at  least  of  the 
ends  of  statecraft.  Castlereagh  may  be  forgiven 
if,  for  a  while,  he  lost  sight  of  the  "rights  of 
nations  "  through  being  dazzled  by  the  vision  of 
the  "  Confederation  of  Europe  ".  For  a  moment, 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1818,  the  vision  seemed  to 
him  to  have  been  all  but  realised,  the  "  cobwebs  of 
diplomacy  "  to  have  been  swept  away,  and  Europe 
to  have  received  something  of  the  consistency  of  a 
single  State.  Yet,  for  all  his  enthusiasm  for  this 
organised  amity  of  the  Powers,  he  soon  recognised 
its  limits  ;  and  though  to  the  last  his  sympathy 
with  the  "  continental  system  "  continued,  he 
never  lost  sight  of  the  essential  interests  of  Eng- 
land, and  protested  against  those  pretensions  of 
the  reactionary  majority  of  the  Alliance  by  which 
these  seemed  to  be  threatened.  In  1817,  to  the 
Tsar's  suggestion  for  a  general  disarmament,  he 
had  replied,  with  admirable  wit,  that  in  this 
respect  Russia  might  show  "a  salutary  example  ". 
In  1819  he  protested  in  a  circular  letter  to  the 
courts  against  the  claim,  formulated  in  the  famous 
Protocol  of  Troppau,  of  the  right  of  the  Alliance 
to  regulate,  not  only  the  external  relations,  but 
the  internal  constitutions  of  States,  as  threatening 
the  very  liberties  of  Great  Britain,  based  as  these 
were  on  the  Revolution  of  1688. 

It  has  been  usual  to  ascribe  to  Canning's  presence 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  101 

in  the  Cabinet  the  attitude  of  opposition  gradually 
taken  up  by  the  Government  to  the  dictatorial 
powers  which,  under  the  influence  of  Metternich, 
the  Grand  Alliance  was  assuming  in  Europe.  That 
he  was  fundamentally  opposed  to  any  plan  for 
subordinating  what  seemed  to  him  the  just  liberties 
of  nations  is  true  enough  ;  but  this  view  was  shared, 
though  in  an  unequal  degree,  by  Castlereagh  him- 
self. The  latter  protested  against  the  repressive 
policy  of  the  Carlsbad  decrees,  and  pointed  out  to 
Metternich  that  it  was  not  desirable  to  stir  up  the 
peoples  against  the  Governments  ;  and  in  spite  of 
his  general  sympathy  with  the  lofty  ideals  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander,  he  made  it  perfectly  plain 
that  he  recognised  the  limitations  of  their  practical 
application.  "  The  system  "  of  the  Tsar,  he  de- 
clared, "  tended  to  a  perfection  not  applicable  to 
this  age  nor  to  mankind  ;  it  was  but  '  a  beautiful 
phantom  which  England  cannot  pursue,'  for  all 
speculative  policy  is  outside  the  range  of  her 
faculties." 

The  mere  fact  that  Canning  continued  for  four 
years  a  member  of  the  Government  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  orators  of  the  Opposition,  was  engaged 
in  bartering  away  the  securities  of  British  liberty 
at  home  and  abroad,  showed  that  he  was  in 
agreement  with  the  main  line  of  their  policy. 
This  was  most  certainly  the  case  with  regard  to 
domestic  affairs.  These  were  years  of  economic 


102  GEORGE  CANNING 

and  political  crisis  in  England.  The  conclusion  of 
peace,  by  putting  an  end  to  the  abnormal  condi- 
tions which  had  lasted  so  long  as  to  have  become 
a  part  of  the  habit  of  the  people,  had  thrown  the 
markets  out  of  gear.  The  economic  revolution, 
caused  by  the  introduction  of  labour-saving  ma- 
chinery, added  to  the  confusion  and  the  distress, 
which  were  again  enhanced  by  the  famine  price 
of  bread,  due  to  the  Corn  Laws.  That  under  these 
circumstances  discontent  was  widespread  and 
loudly  expressed  is  not  surprising.  The  voiceless 
misery  of  the  people  found  vent  in  acts  of  violence. 
In  the  country  starving  mobs  of  labourers,  in  the 
towns  starving  mobs  of  artisans,  plundered  and 
burned.  And  when,  out  of  the  chaos  of  passions, 
a  united  opinion  began  to  take  shape,  it  assumed 
the  form  of  a  passionate  demand  for  political  re- 
form, as  the  necessary  first  step  towards  the 
redress  of  intolerable  grievances.  Canning  was 
not  blind  to  the  reality  of  the  crisis,  nor  to  the 
suffering  of  which  it  was  the  cause ;  but  he  did 
not  believe  in  parliamentary  reform  as  its  cure. 
It  was  at  this  period  that  the  most  strenuous  of 
his  speeches  against  what  he  regarded  as  a  revolu- 
tionary propaganda  were  made.  To  those  who 
argued  that  Parliament  should  represent  the  will 
of  the  people  he  replied,  that  government  was  not 
a  matter  of  will,  but  of  reason  ;  and  that  an  un- 
bridled democracy  was  as  likely  to  be  unreasonable 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  103 

as  an  unbridled  despotism.  While,  therefore,  on 
the  one  hand  he  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
existing  governing  class  to  rule  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  sound  reason,  and  to  meet  the 
crying  needs  of  the  times  with  "  the  mildest  and 
most  liberal  legislation,"  he  gave  his  unqualified 
support  to  the  Government  in  their  policy  of 
suppressing  the  unruly  agitation  in  favour  of  Re- 
form. On  3rd  February,  1817,  a  message  of  the 
Prince  Regent  drew  the  attention  of  Parliament  to 
the  state  of  the  country,  and  bills  were  introduced 
for  the  suppressing  of  seditious  meetings  and  for 
the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  The 
prominent  part  taken  by  Canning  in  the  debate 
on  these  measures  proclaimed  to  all  the  world  his 
share  in  the  unpopular  policy  of  the  Government ; 
and  when,  in  May,  1818,  a  bill  of  indemnity  to 
cover  the  acts  of  the  Administration  during  the 
suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus  was  introduced,  the 
caustic  wit  with  which  he  parried  the  assaults  of 
the  Opposition  roused  bitter  resentment,  and  he 
was  accused  in  an  anonymous  pamphlet  of  "jesting 
with  the  misery  of  the  people  ".  This  charge,  as 
injurious  as  it  was  unjust,  Canning  was  not  prepared 
to  suffer  in  silence.  To  the  author  of  "  A  Letter 
to  the  Right  Hon.  George  Canning,"  he  wrote 
under  cover  of  Mr.  Ridgway,  the  publisher,  "  for 
the  purpose  of  expressing  to  you  my  opinion  that 
— you  are  a  liar  and  a  slanderer,  and  want  courage 


104  GEORGE  CANNING 

only  to  be  an  assassin  ".  The  gage  thus  thrown 
down  was  not  taken  up.  The  anonymous  author 
who,  we  are  pleased  to  know,  on  the  authority  of 
Mr.  Therry,  lived  to  alter  his  opinion  and  to  pro- 
nounce more  than  one  "brilliant  eulogy  on  the 
calumniated  minister/'  preferred  the  inglorious 
safety  of  obscurity  to  the  conspicuous  risks  of 
Putney  Heath  ;  and  Canning  was  spared  the  ex- 
perience of  a  second  duel. 

Twice  more,  indeed,  had  Canning  the  choice 
between  risking  his  honour  or  his  life.  In  the 
first  case  an  offensive  attack  upon  him,  attributed 
by  the  Times  to  Hume,  and  which  seemed  to  stand 
in  need  of  "explanations,"  was  fathered  upon  the 
indiscretion  of  a  reporter,  for  which  the  unhappy 
wight  was  duly  reprimanded  at  the  bar  of  the 
House.  The  second  occasion  was  somewhat  more 
serious,  but  ended  in  an  equally  satisfactory  man- 
ner. Sir  Francis  Burdett,  from  his  retreat  in  the 
Marshalsea,  where  he  was  undergoing  imprison- 
ment for  a  political  libel,  wrote  on  4th  April, 
1821,  to  the  chairman  of  a  Reform  dinner,  "that 
Mr.  Canning,  I  mention  him  as  the  champion  of 
the  party,  a  part  for  the  whole,  should  defend  to 
the  utmost  a  system,  by  the  hocus-pocus  tricks  of 
which  he  and  his  family  get  so  much  public  money, 
can  cause  neither  in  me,  nor  in  any  man,  suspicion 
or  anger — > 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  105 

"  For  'tis  their  duty  all  the  learned  think 

To  espouse  the  cause  by  which  they  eat  and  drink  ". 

This  certainly  needed  an  "  explanation  "  ;  and  as 
soon  as  Burdett  was  released  from  custody  Can- 
ning wrote  to  him  to  demand  one.  The  reply 
was  prompt  and  satisfactory.  The  writer  dis- 
claimed any  intention  of  passing  any  criticism 
more  than  all  public  men  who  benefit  from  the 
system  which  they  advocate  are  fairly  and 
necessarily  subject  to ;  he  had  avoided  making 
any  allusion  to  Canning's  personal  character,  and 
certainly  had  never  had  any  intention  of  doing 
so.  This  explanation  was  adjudged  satisfactory  ; 
and  the  incident  closed. 

These  personal  incidents,  unimportant  perhaps 
in  themselves,  are  valuable  as  illustrating  the 
temper  of  the  times  and  the  characters  of  those 
who  played  a  part  in  them.  On  the  whole,  in 
spite  of  the  bitterness  with  which  he  was 
assailed,  the  disinterestedness  of  Canning's  atti- 
tude was  sufficiently  acknowledged  by  all  parties. 
He  had  proclaimed  himself  the  protagonist  of  un- 
popular causes  :  of  Catholic  emancipation  on  the 
one  hand,  of  opposition  to  Reform  on  the  other ; 
yet  the  electors  of  a  great  constituency  still  con- 
tinued to  give  him  their  confidence.  Even  when, 
in  1819,  he  lent  the  weight  of  his  eloquence  to 
help  the  passing  of  the  hated  "  Six  Acts,"  the 
obvious  honesty  of  his  motives  still  served  to  sus- 


106  GEORGE  CANNING 

tain  his  popularity  ;  and  when  at  last,  in  1822,  on 
taking  office  as  Foreign  Secretary,  he  resigned  his 
seat  at  Liverpool,  in  favour  of  a  less  exacting  con- 
stituency, men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  combined 
to  overwhelm  him  with  expressions  of  regret  and 
esteem. 

The  passing  of  the  Six  Acts  marked  the  high 
tide  of  the  Government's  policy  of  repression. 
But,  in  spite  of  this  suspension  of  the  most 
cherished  constitutional  guarantees  of  personal 
liberty,  the  unrest  and  the  discontent  which  pro- 
duced it  continued  to  grow.  A  new  factor  of  peril 
was  added  when,  in  January,  1820,  George  III. 
died.  Some  sentiment  of  affection  and  of  loyalty 
had  gathered  round  the  pathetic  figure  of  the  old 
King,  whose  name  had  so  long  been  associated  with 
all  the  glories  and  the  sufferings  of  the  country. 
The  new  King  was  hated  and  despised ;  and 
when  it  was  learned  that,  in  spite  of  all  efforts 
made  to  prevent  it,  his  ill-used  wife — who  had 
lately  been  living  abroad — was  about  to  return 
home  to  claim  her  rights  as  Queen,  all  the  forces 
of  disaffection  in  the  country  prepared  to  gather 
in  support  of  her  cause. 

The  position  was  one  of  singular  difficulty  and 
danger ;  and  between  the  obstinate  resentment  of 
the  King  against  his  wife,  and  the  clamour  of  the 
public  in  her  favour,  Ministers  were  in  a  perilous 
plight.  As  long  as  the  Queen  remained  abroad 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  107 

the  question  was  comparatively  simple  ;  and  the 
Ministry  succeeded  in  persuading  the  King  to 
agree  to  an  arrangement  by  which  an  annuity  of 
£50,000  should  be  paid  to  her  so  long  as  she 
should  not  return  to  England.  Unfortunately  for 
everybody  concerned,  the  Queen  allowed  herself 
to  be  persuaded,  against  the  counsel  of  her  legal 
advisers,  to  return  and  brave  the  charges  laid 
against  her.  On  20th  June,  18^9>  amid  the  ac- 
clamations of  an  enormous  crowd,  she  made  her 
entry  into  London,  and  took  up  her  residence  at 
the  house  of  Alderman  Wood,  who  had  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  her  over.  This 
at  once  altered  the  entire  situation.  The  Cabinet 
had  persuaded  the  King  of  the  impolicy,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  public  morals  and  interest, 
of  introducing  a  divorce  bill  into  the  House  of 
Lords.  But  the  Queen's  public  appeal  had  made 
compromise  impossible ;  popular  opinion  in  her 
favour  was  violently  excited ;  and  the  somewhat 
ungenerous  and  very  short-sighted  attitude  of  the 
Government  in  refusing,  before  she  had  been 
proved  guilty,  to  recognise  her  status  so  far  even 
as  to  provide  her  with  a  lodging  in  one  of  the  royal 
palaces,  made  the  public  revelation  of  the  whole 
sordid  scandal  necessary  for  their  own  justification. 
In  this  matter  Canning's  position  was  one  of 
exceeding  delicacy.  He  did  not  doubt  the  es- 
sential truth  of  the  charges  against  the  Queen ; 


108  GEORGE  CANNING 

but  he  had,  in  earlier  days,  been  on  terms  of 
friendly  intimacy  with  her;  and  he  was  unable  to 
pass  a  severe  judgment  upon  her,  in  view  of  the 
provocations  and  misery  of  her  position.  He  had 
agreed  to  the  original  proposals  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  to  the  conditional  annuity,  and  also  to 
the  exclusion  of  her  name  from  the  Liturgy.  But 
had  any  penal  process  been  in  contemplation,  he 
declared  that  "the  person  to  be  tried  would  not, 
without  injustice,  have  been  divested,  before  the 
trial,  of  any  of  the  privileges  of  her  present 
position ".  A  penal  process  had  now  become  in- 
evitable ;  and,  on  1 7th  August,  the  trial  of  the 
Queen  before  the  House  of  Lords  on  a  charge 
of  adultery,  with  a  view  to  a  divorce,  began. 
With  the  proceedings  connected  with  the  trial 
Canning  had  nothing  to  do.  He  had  declared 
vehemently  at  the  outset  that  he  would  "  never 
place  himself  in  the  situation  of  accuser  "  towards 
the  Queen ;  and  he  took  the  earliest  opportunity 
of  placing  his  position  very  frankly  before  the 
King  himself,  offering  to  resign  his  position  in 
the  Cabinet  should  his  Majesty  desire  him  to  do 
so.  His  interview  with  the  King,  which  does 
credit  to  both,  took  place  on  25th  June.  George 
IV.,  who  was  capable  at  times  of  acting  up  to 
his  self-assumed  part  of  "first  gentleman  of 
Europe,"  appreciated  Canning's  motives  for  de- 
siring not  to  take  part  in  criminal  proceedings 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  109 

against  a  person  to  whom  he  had  stood  in  a 
confidential  relation,  praised  him  for  his  manly, 
honourable  and  gentleman-like  conduct,  and 
begged  him  not  to  resign ;  since,  as  far  as  he 
himself  was  concerned,  Canning  should  take  any 
attitude  in  the  case  he  might  choose. 

Under  these  circumstances  Canning  decided  to 
remain  in  the  Government ;  and,  in  order  to  avoid 
even  an  appearance  of  opposing  their  policy  in 
Parliament,  he  went  abroad,  and  stayed  away  until 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  trial.  This,  meanwhile, 
had  taken  a  course  neither  wholly  satisfactory,  nor 
wholly  unsatisfactory,  from  the  Government's  point 
of  view.  The  revelations  made  in  the  course  of  the 
trial  had  in  a  large  measure  explained  and  justified 
the  attitude  of  Ministers,  which  had  seemed  to  the 
uninstructed  public  dictated  by  subservience  to  the 
royal  will.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bill  passed  the 
Lords  by  a  bare  majority  of  seven — too  narrow  a 
margin  to  justify  the  Government  in  carrying  it 
farther.  The  question  was  thus  left  more  or 
less  unsettled ;  and  when,  in  December,  Canning 
returned  to  London,  he  announced  that  there  being 
no  immediate  prospect  of  the  adjustment  of  the 
Queen's  affairs,  his  position  as  a  Minister  in  the 
House  of  Commons  would  be  full  of  difficulty  and 
inconvenience  both  to  himself  and  the  Government. 
He,  therefore,  once  more  tendered  his  resignation ; 
which  was  accepted. 


110  GEORGE  CANNING 

Some  controversy  has  arisen  as  to  whether  the 
ostensible  reasons  were  also  the  real  reasons  of 
Canning's  retirement.  Mr.  Stapleton  has  pointed 
out,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  Correspondence,  that 
Canning's  position  in  the  Cabinet  was  not  such  as 
to  have  compelled  him  to  open  his  lips  in  Parlia- 
ment on  the  Queen's  affairs ;  that  the  generous 
attitude  of  the  King,  admitted  by  Canning  himself, 
precluded  any  chance  of  serious  misunderstanding 
in  the  most  exalted  quarters ;  and,  lastly,  that  even 
after  the  Queen's  death,  which  occurred  in  August, 
1821,  he  deprecated  Liverpool's  efforts  to  have  him 
readmitted  into  the  Government.  The  accumu- 
lated evidence,  indeed,  seems  to  prove  that  his 
reasons  for  retiring  from  the  Government  lay  deeper 
than  a  mere  personal  attitude  on  what  was,  after 
all,  a  minor  point  of  policy.  The  outcome  of  the 
trial  had,  of  course,  been  a  blow  to  the  King's  self- 
love  ;  and  he  felt  much  resentment  at  the  attitude 
of  Canning's  friends  among  the  peers  which  had 
contributed  to  it.  But  this  would  hardly  have 
served  to  keep  Canning  out  of  the  Cabinet  had  he 
really  desired  to  re-enter  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  formed  an  excellent  excuse  for  holding  aloof,  if 
he  wished  to  do  so,  without  giving  his  true  reasons. 
That  he  was  increasingly  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
general  policy  of  Castlereagh  in  foreign  affairs  is 
plain  from  his  language  when  he  himself,  in  1822, 
succeeded  to  the  Foreign  Office.  To  his  friend, 
Charles  Bagot,  he  wrote,  on  5th  November,  1822  : 


GEORGK   CANNING 
From  an  engraving  by  I  I'm.  Say  after  lltf  portrait  by  Laieren 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  111 

"  You  know  ray  politics  well  enough  to  know  what 
I  mean,  when  I  say  that  for  Europe  I  shall  be 
desirous  now  and  then  to  read  England,"  a  sentence 
which  certainly  implies  that,  in  his  opinion,  Castle- 
reagh  had  too  often  read  Europe  where  he  should 
have  read  England.  Evidently  he  was  ill  content 
with  the  somewhat  equivocal  part  played  by  this 
country  at  the  Congresses  of  Troppau  and  Laybach. 
England,  it  is  true,  had  protested  against  the 
monstrous  claims  of  the  Troppau  Protocol ;  but  her 
protests  had  been  practically  ignored ;  and  to  his 
masterful  temper  the  mere  suspicion  was  intolerable 
that  Great  Britain  was  being  dragged  impotently 
at  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  "  Holy  Alliance ". 
Yet  to  have  assumed  openly  at  this  juncture  the 
attitude  which  he  took  up  when  he  came  into 
power  would  have  been  to  break,  not  only  with  his 
colleagues  in  the  Government,  but  with  his  party 
at  large  ;  and  this  would  have  meant  resigning  for 
ever  all  chance  of  giving  his  policy  practical  effect. 
The  affair  of  the  Queen  gave  him  an  opportunity 
of  severing  his  connection  with  the  Government, 
without  offence  either  to  his  colleagues  or  to  his 
party.  At  the  same  time,  whether  this  explanation 
of  his  attitude  be  correct  or  no,  there  can  be  no 
suspicion  that  he  hoped  to  return  to  the  Govern- 
ment as  master  within  any  measurable  time.  Yet, 
not  many  months  were  to  pass  before  he  reaped 
the  reward  of  his  reticence,  and  was  once  more 


112  GEORGE  CANNING 

in  effective  control  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
country. 

From  the  middle  of  1821  until  the  beginning  of 
1822  Canning  was  in  Paris  ;  a  visit  mainly  memor- 
able for  the  close  friendship  which  he  formed  with 
Chateaubriand,  whom  Canning  admired  both  as  a 
man  and  as  a  master  of  style.  After  his  return  to 
England  he  continued  in  intimate  correspondence 
with  the  French  statesman,  to  whose  opinion  in 
matters  of  taste  he  was  so  sensitive,  that  we  are 
told  he  would  sit  up  all  night  polishing  the  style 
of  the  despatches  intended  for  his  eye.  During 
his  stay  in  Paris  his  political  activity  was  neces- 
sarily slight.  Once,  however,  in  1821,  he  came 
over  to  speak  in  the  House  in  favour  of  Catholic 
emancipation ;  and  in  the  following  year  he  again 
exhibited  the  double  tendency  of  his  mind  in 
politics,  by  supporting  a  bill  for  the  removal  of 
the  disabilities  of  Roman  Catholic  peers  on  the 
one  hand,  and  opposing  Lord  John  Russell's  motion 
for  Reform  on  the  other. 

Meanwhile,  however,  an  offer  had  been  made  to 
him  which  threatened  to  withdraw  him  from  the 
stage  of  English  politics  altogether.  In  January, 
1822,  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  East  India 
Company  offered  him  the  Governor-Generalship 
of  India,  which  the  Marquis  of  Hastings  was  about 
to  resign.  In  this  matter  Canning  at  first  took  up 
an  attitude  of  some  reserve.  The  prospect  of  ruling 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  113 

the  Indian  Empire  appealed  to  his  imagination  and 
to  his  ambition ;  while  the  knowledge  of  Indian 
affairs,  which  he  had  gained  during  his  four  years' 
Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Control,  gave  him  con- 
fidence in  his  power  adequately  to  fill  the  most 
splendid  position  open  to  a  British  subject.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  go  to  India  meant  practically 
closing  for  ever  the  avenues  to  the  realisation  of 
his  lifelong  ambition  :  the  attainment  of  supreme 
power  at  home.  This  latter  argument,  indeed, 
carried  at  the  time  little  weight ;  for  the  avenues 
seemed  already  closed.  Apart  from  the  ill-will  of 
the  King,  on  which  he  still  laid  special  stress,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  join  the 
Government,  except  in  such  a  capacity  as  should 
give  him  a  decisive  voice  in  directing  its  foreign 
policy.  But  Castle reagh's  ten  years'  occupation  of 
the  Foreign  Office  had  given  him  a  prescriptive 
right  to  represent  the  interests  of  the  country 
abroad  ;  in  age  Canning  had  only  a  few  months  the 
advantage  of  him  ;  and  it  seemed,  therefore,  that 
in  the  order  of  nature  there  would  be  no  opening 
for  him  in  the  only  office  which  he  really  coveted. 
The  fact  that  the  post  had  been  pressed  upon  him 
before  a  vacancy  had  actually  occurred  gave  him 
an  excuse  for  carefully  weighing  all  the  arguments 
for  and  against  its  acceptance.  In  the  end  the 
former  prevailed  ;  and  he  made  all  his  preparations 
for  leaving  England.  These  had  been  practically 
8 


114  GEORGE  CANNING 

completed  when  the  news  reached  him  that  Lord 
Londonderry  (Castlereagh),  who  was  on  the  eve 
of  leaving  for  the  Conference  about  to  assemble  at 
Vienna,  had,  in  a  moment  of  insane  depression, 
committed  suicide  (12th  August,  1822). 

Canning  was  in  the  North  when  the  news 
reached  him  of  the  tragedy  which,  with  such 
terrible  opportuneness,  had  cleared  his  path  to 
power  in  England.  Its  significance  he  realised  at 
once.  In  spite  of  the  King's  dislike,  in  spite  of 
the  hatred  of  powerful  members  of  the  Government 
for  his  principles  and  his  policy,  he  knew  that  he 
would  be  invited  to  take  office.  But  he  was  deter- 
mined, if  he  were  forced  to  give  up  India,  only 
to  join  the  Ministry  on  his  own  terms.  It  should 
be  all,  or  nothing.  He  was,  in  fact,  in  a  position 
to  have  his  will.  With  the  possible  exception 
of  Peel,  whose  parliamentary  experience  was  not 
as  yet  great  enough  to  justify  the  succession  of 
the  Foreign  Office  passing  to  him,  there  was  no 
supporter  of  the  Goveniment  comparable  to  Can- 
ning in  reputation  or  intellect.  Lord  Liverpool, 
moreover,  was  determined  that  Canning  should 
have  the  Foreign  Office  and  a  free  hand  to  carry 
out  his  ideas.  In  face  of  this  attitude  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  the  King,  with  a  sufficiently  good  grace, 
allowed  his  objections  to  be  overruled  ;  and  the 
Foreign  Office,  the  only  subordinate  office  which 
Canning  had  declared  he  must  accept,  were  it 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  115 

offered  to  him,  was  placed  at  his  disposal.  Until 
the  affair  was  absolutely  settled,  Canning  had  given 
no  hint  in  public  of  any  impending  change  in  his 
plans.  On  30th  August  he  was  entertained  at  a 
great  banquet  at  Liverpool,  and  in  a  farewell 
speech  to  his  constituents  he  reviewed  the  part 
which,  with  their  support,  he  had  played  in  politics. 
At  the  same  time  an  address,  signed  by  members 
of  all  parties  and  opinions,  bore  witness  to  the 
impression  which  his  character  had  made  upon 
the  great  community  which  he  had  so  long  repre- 
sented. He  was  not  destined  to  stand  for  Liverpool 
again  ;  but  neither  was  he  about  to  leave  England. 
On  llth  September  he  was  offered,  and  accepted, 
the  seals  of  the  Foreign  Office. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL 

Congress  of  Verona — Canning  and  the  European  Alliance — 
The  doctrine  of  Non-intervention — Ferdinand  VII.  and 
the  Spanish  Liberals — Attitude  of  France — England  and 
the  Spanish  colonies — French  invasion  of  Spain — 
Troubles  in  Portugal — Intervention  of  Great  Britain — 
Canning  and  the  Monroe  doctrine — Recognition  of  the 
South  American  Republics — Speech  on  the  British  inter- 
vention in  Portugal. 

"  "  I  *EN  years,"  wrote  Canning  to  a  friend  who 
JL  had  congratulated  him  on  his  accession 
to  office,  "  have  made  a  world  of  difference,  and 
have  prepared  a  very  different  sort  of  '  world  to 
bustle  in,'  from  that  we  should  have  found  in  1812. 
For  fame,  it  is  'a  squeezed  orange,'  but  for  public 
good,  there  is  something  to  do,  and  I  will  try,  but 
it  must  be  cautiously,  to  do  it."  There  was,  in 
fact,  no  lack  of  important  questions  to  claim  his 
attention.  With  Russia  there  was  a  controversy 
as  to  rights  in  the  Bering  Sea,  foreshadowing  the 
world-issues  of  later  diplomacy.  The  insurrection 
which,  in  the  spring  of  1821,  had  broken  out  in 
Greece,  was  rapidly  developing  into  a  situation 

(116) 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND   PORTUGAL  117 

which  threatened  to  open  up  the  whole  perilous 
Eastern  question.  Most  instantly  important  of 
all,  the  affairs  of  Spain,  and  the  attitude  of  legiti- 
mist France  toward  the  infectious  revolutionary 
unrest  south  of  the  Pyrenees,  promised  a  complica- 
tion highly  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  Europe  and 
the  interests  of  Great  Britain. 

It  was  for  the  purpose  mainly  of  discussing  this 
latter  question  that  the  Congress  of  the  Powers 
had  been  summoned  to  Verona  in  September,  1 822, 
the  very  month  of  Canning's  entry  into  office. 
In  this  matter  the  initiative  had  been  taken  by  M. 
de  Montmorency,  the  French  Minister  of  War,  an 
enthusiast  for  the  "  European  system,"  and  anxious 
to  obtain  from  the  high  council  of  the  Powers  a 
mandate  for  France  to  interfere  in  Spain,  similar 
to  that  which  had  authorised  Austria  to  "  restore 
order  "  in  Naples  and  in  Piedmont.  A  pretension 
so  perilous  to  the  traditional  policy  of  Great 
Britain  toward  the  Peninsula  could  not  possibly 
have  been  admitted  even  by  Castlereagh  ;  and,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  England  would,  even  had  he 
lived,  have  been  unrepresented  at  the  Congress, 
but  for  the  strongly  expressed  opinion  of  the  King 
— ever  in  favour  of  upholding  the  cause  of  "morality  " 
in  Europe — and  for  the  belief  that  the  Eastern 
question  would  also  be  discussed. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  Lord  Londonderry  had 
been  on  the  eve  of  setting  out  for  the  conferences 


118  GEORGE  CANNING 

arranged  at  Vienna,  which  were  to  be  prelimi- 
nary to  the  great  gathering  at  Verona.  The  news 
of  his  death  was  a  great  blow  to  Metternich,  who, 
in  spite  of  recent  differences,  felt  that  Castle- 
reagh  had  sympathised  with  the  main  lines  of  his 
policy  in  a  way  that  could  not  be  expected  of  his 
successor.  But  though  his  views  of  Metternich 
and  his  "system"  were  sufficiently  notorious, 
Canning  was  too  cautious  a  statesman  to  break 
hastily  with  a  policy  which,  indeed,  he  saw  needed 
accentuating  in  a  certain  direction  rather  than  any 
fundamental  alteration.  The  Duke  of  Wellington, 
then,  was  sent  to  Verona  in  Lord  Londonderry's 
place,  with  instructions  to  limit  his  part  in  the 
Congress  to  one  of  observation  and,  if  necessary, 
of  protest.  In  entrusting  this  mission  to  Welling- 
ton, the  most  "European"  of  British  statesmen, 
Canning  sufficiently  advertised  the  fact  that,  how- 
ever "  insular "  his  policy  might  seem,  he  had 
no  intention  of  repudiating  the  obligations  which 
Great  Britain  had  incurred  by  her  adhesion  to  the 
Grand  Alliance. 

Before  proceeding  to  examine  his  policy  in 
the  Spanish  question,  it  will  be  well  to  deter- 
mine what  was  Canning's  general  principle  in 
guiding  the  foreign  affairs  of  England.  Happily, 
he  has  himself  so  clearly  defined  this,  that  we 
cannot  do  better  than  restate  it  in  his  own  words. 
In  his  speech  of  30th  August,  1 822,  at  Liverpool 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND   PORTUGAL  119 

— already  alluded  to — he  referred  to  the  great 
struggle  between  monarchy  and  democracy  raging 
abroad.  In  this  warfare,  England,  firm  on  her 
basis  of  compromise,  needed  not  "  to  be  a  partisan 
on  either  side,  but,  for  the  sake  of  both,  a  model, 
and  ultimately  perhaps  an  umpire  "  ;  and  in  a  letter 
of  l6th  September,  1823,  to  Wellesley  he  wrote 
that  he  thought  "  it  unadvisable  to  force  into  con- 
flict the  abstract  principles  of  monarchy  and  demo- 
cracy". The  function  of  England,  in  fact,  so  far 
as  her  obligations  to  Europe  were  concerned,  was 
to  hold  the  balance  between  extreme  principles  : 
a  function  for  which  her  Constitution  pre-eminently 
fitted  her.  But,  for  the  fulfilment  of  this  function, 
England  had  been  impotent  because  she  had  been 
entangled  in  the  meshes  of  a  system  which  ham- 
pered her  free  action.  In  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Alliance  her  initiative  had  been  stifled,  because 
the  whole  spirit  of  continental  statesmanship 
was  alien  to  her  genius.  Castlereagh,  for  all  his 
general  sympathy  with  Metternich's  views,  had 
more  than  once  pointed  out  to  him  that  British 
policy  must  depend  ultimately  upon  the  temper  of 
the  British  Parliament ;  but  the  result  had  been 
little  more  than  to  lead  the  Austrian  statesman  to 
draw  a  distinction  between  the  "free"  autocratic 
Powers  and  those  that  were  "  limited  by  a  Con- 
stitution— to  the  disparagement  of  the  latter.  The 
protests  of  England  against  the  dictatorial  claims 


120  GEORGE  CANNING 

of  the  Alliance  came  to  be  regarded  as  no  more 
than  sops  thrown  to  public  opinion,  and,  as  far  as 
the  Allies  themselves  were  concerned,  were — to  use 
Canning's  phrase — "mingled  with  the  air".  But 
if  there  had  been  any  doubt  as  to  the  genuineness 
of  Castlereagh's  attitude  in  this  matter,  there  could 
be  none  as  to  that  of  Canning.  "Our  influence," 
he  said,  "  if  it  is  to  be  maintained  abroad,  must  be 
secure  in  the  sources  of  strength  at  home  :  and  the 
sources  of  that  strength  are  the  sympathy  between 
the  people  and  the  Government ;  in  the  union  of 
the  public  sentiment  with  the  public  counsels ;  in 
the  reciprocal  confidence  and  co-operation  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  the  Crown."  This  prin- 
ciple, so  impossible  for  a  statesman  of  Metternich's 
temper  to  understand,  excluded  any  possibility  of 
Great  Britain  allowing  the  claim  of  the  Alliance, 
defined  in  the  Troppau  Protocol,  to  intervene,  for 
the  supposed  benefit  of  Europe,  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  independent  States ;  for  this  claim  once 
acknowledged  would  have  justified  the  Powers  in 
intervening  to  suppress  popular  movements  in 
England  itself. 

The  declamations  of  Opposition  orators  about 
"  Cossacks  encamped  in  Hyde  Park "  were,  in 
fact,  not  altogether  words  and  wind.  Already 
Metternich  was  complaining  of  the  tone  of 
speeches  in  Parliament  and  the  popular  support 
given  to  "  revolutionary  agitation "  ;  while,  in 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  121 

France,  the  Eloile,  the  organ  of  the  "  Ultras," 
was  calling  attention  to  Ireland,  and  declaring  that 
an  insurrection  there  would  embroil  England,  and 
so  prove  a  menace  to  France  and  to  all  Europe. 
"Naples,  Piedmont,  Spain,  Ireland!"  wrote  Can- 
ning, "  who  shall  draw  the  line,  if  the  principle  of 
'  European  question '  be  once  admitted  ?  "  In  the 
face  of  this  "  areopagite  "  attitude  of  foreign  opinion, 
indeed,  his  language  was  quite  unambiguous.  "  The 
pretensions  of  Prince  Metternich,"  he  wrote,  "in 
respect  of  this  country,  appear  to  me  to  be  perfectly 
unreasonable ;  they  must  be  founded  upon  some 
strange  misconception  of  our  obligations,  our 
interests  and  our  feelings  .  .  .  England  is  under 
no  obligation  to  interfere,  or  to  assist  in  interfering, 
in  the  internal  concerns  of  independent  nations. 
The  specific  engagement  to  interfere  in  France  is  an 
exception  so  studiously  particularised  as  to  prove  the 
rule.  The  rule  I  take  to  be,  that  our  engagements 
have  reference  wholly  to  the  state  of  territorial 
possession  settled  at  the  peace  ;  to  the  state  of 
affairs  between  nation  and  nation ;  not  (with  the 
single  exception  above  stated)  to  the  affairs  of  any 
nation  within  itself.  /  thought  the  public  declarations 
of  my  predecessors  had  set  this  question  completely  at 
rest."  "The  pervading  principles  "  of  the  Alliance, 
he  wrote  again,  in  1825,  to  the  Russian  ambassador, 
' '  are  those  established  by  the  treaties  of  Vienna  ; 
viz.,  the  preservation  of  the  general  peace  and  the 


122  GEORGE  CANNING 

maintenance  against  all  ambition  and  encroachment 
of  the  existing  territorial  distribution  of  Europe." 

In  taking  up  this  attitude,  then,  Canning,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  statement,  was  but  continuing  the 
policy  of  his  predecessor  in  office.  But  while 
Castlereagh,  for  all  his  careful  stewardship  of 
British  interests,  had  to  the  last  been  more  or 
less  dazzled  by  the  vision  of  the  Confederation 
of  Europe,  Canning  reverted  with  conviction,  and 
even  with  enthusiasm,  to  the  purely  national  prin- 
ciple. "  Our  business  is  to  preserve  the  peace  "of 
the  world,  and  therefore  the  independence  of  the 
several  nations  that  compose  it.  In  resisting  the 
Revolution  in  all  its  stages,  we  resisted  the  spirit 
of  change  to  be  sure,  but  we  resisted  also  the 
spirit  of  foreign  domination."  He  greeted  with 
enthusiasm  the  new-old  spirit  which  Villele 
brought  into  the  policy  of  France.  "  Villele," 
he  said,  "  is  a  Minister  of  thirty  years  ago — 
no  revolutionary  scoundrel  :  but  constitutionally 
hating  England,  as  Choiseul  and  Vergennes  used 
to  hate  us — and  so  things  are  getting  back  to  a 
wholesome  state  again.  Every  nation  for  itself, 
and  God  for  us  all.  Only  bid  your  Emperor 
(Alexander  I.)  be  quiet  ;  for  the  time  for  Areo- 
pagus, and  the  like  of  that,  is  gone  by."  In  this 
spirit,  then,  it  was  that  Canning  prepared  to  deal 
with  the  crisis  arising  from  the  affairs  of  Spain. 

The  trouble  had  begun  in  1820,  in  which  year  a 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  123 

successful  revolution  had  forced  upon  the  unwilling 
King,  Ferdinand  VII.,  the  impossible  Constitution 
of  1812,  which  he  had  accepted,  only  immediately 
to  repudiate  it,  on  his  restoration  in  1814.  For 
two  years  Spain  had  remained  the  scene  of  con- 
tinued disorder,  due  partly  to  the  opposition 
of  the  peasantry  and  of  the  clerical  party  to  a 
Government  which,  in  the  true  doctrinaire  spirit, 
rode  rough-shod  over  their  prejudices,  partly  to 
the  hatred  of  the  provinces  for  a  centralised  system 
which  threatened  to  rob  them  of  the  last  vestiges 
of  their  traditional  liberties  ;  while  the  King,  de- 
prived of  all  power,  was  made  the  mouthpiece 
of  a  policy  he  loathed.  At  the  outset  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  had  offered  to  march  100,000 
Russians  through  Southern  Europe  to  the  res- 
cue of  oppressed  royalty  in  Spain ;  but  to  Met- 
ternich  this  drastic  remedy  seemed  worse  than 
the  disease,  and  he  had  managed  to  persuade  the 
Tsar  that  the  "  material  sickness  "  of  Spain  could 
not  prove  dangerous  to  Europe,  whose  illness  was 
"  moral ,"  and  that,  isolated  by  the  Pyrenees,  it 
might  safely  be  left  to  itself.  But  though  Met- 
ternich  might  view  with  equanimity  the  raging  of 
a  pestilence  so  remote  from  his  own  doors,  it  was 
otherwise  with  the  Government  of  France.  In  the 
spring  of  1821  the  ultra-royalists  had  come  into 
office,  under  the  able  leadership  of  Villele  ;  and  to 
these  the  condition  of  Spain  seemed  increasingly 


124  GEORGE  CANNING 

intolerable,  a  menace  to  the  stability  of  the 
monarchy  in  France,  an  insult  to  the  whole  House 
of  Bourbon  in  the  person  of  King  Ferdinand.  An 
outbreak  of  yellow  fever  in  the  Peninsula  gave  them 
an  excuse  for  taking  some  action  ;  and,  under  pre- 
tence of  establishing  a  sanitary  cordon,  a  vast  army 
of  observation  was  concentrated  along  the  Spanish 
frontier.  Farther  than  this,  however,  even  had 
opinion  within  the  Ministry  as  to  further  policy 
been  absolutely  united,  they  dared  not  go  with- 
out consulting  the  Powers  of  the  Alliance ;  and  it 
was  primarily  for  taking  the  sense  of  Europe  on 
this  question  that  the  Congress  had  been  sum- 
moned to  meet  at  Verona. 

When,  in  October,  the  Congress  assembled, 
Montmorency,  the  French  plenipotentiary,  laid 
before  it  the  question  whether,  in  the  event  of 
France  being  forced  to  declare  war  on  Spain,  she 
would  be  able  to  reckon  on  the  moral  and  material 
support  of  the  Allies.  To  this  question  Russia, 
Austria  and  Prussia  returned  favourable  replies  ; 
but  Wellington,  acting  on  his  instructions,  made 
so  vigorous  a  protest,  that  Montmorency  dared 
not  sign  a  definitive  treaty  with  them.  By  way 
of  gaining  time  it  was  now  suggested  that  the 
Allied  Powers  should  try  the  effect  of  presenting 
identical  notes  at  Madrid,  calling  on  the  Spanish 
Government  to  mend  its  ways.  Again  England 
protested,  declaring  her  intention,  not  only  of  not 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  125 

holding  a  common  language  with  the  Allies,  but  of 
making  no  communication  to  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment whatever  on  the  subject  of  its  relations  with 
its  own  country.  The  other  Powers  persisting, 
Wellington  was  instructed  to  withdraw  from  the 
conferences  altogether. 

The  situation  was  now  highly  curious  as  well 
as  critical.  While  Canning  was  championing  the 
liberty  of  Spain  in  Europe,  he  was  in  angry  con- 
troversy with  the  Spanish  Government  as  to  its 
high-handed  interference  with  British  trade  in 
South  American  waters  ;  for  Spain  was,  in  fact,  as 
he  humorously  summed  up  the  situation,  "holding 
out  her  European  hand  for  charity,  and  with  her 
American  one  picking  our  pockets  ".  Under  the  old 
law  of  Spain  intercourse  with  the  Spanish  colonies 
had  been  confined  to  Spanish  traders  ;  but  during 
the  war  the  colonies  had  revolted  from  the  mother- 
country,  and  a  lucrative  trade  had  sprung  up 
between  them  and  Great  Britain.  All  efforts  of 
the  restored  monarchy  in  Spain  to  bring  back 
the  colonies  to  their  allegiance  had  failed  ;  but, 
none  the  less,  the  Spanish  Government  still 
claimed  the  right  to  prevent  any  foreign  country 
trading  with  them ;  and,  acting  on  instructions 
from  Madrid,  Spanish  warships  had  laid  violent 
hands  on  British  vessels.  Moreover,  the  unsettle- 
inent  caused  by  a  long  and  inconclusive  state  of 
Avar  had  led  to  the  establishment  of  flourishing 


126  GEORGE  CANNING 

communities  of  pirates  in  the  Spanish  West  Indies ; 
so  that  British  trade  with  South  America  had  to 
run  the  gauntlet  of  ferocious  sea-robbers  on  the  one 
side,  and  Spanish  men-of-war  on  the  other.  This 
was  a  condition  of  things  which  the  British  Govern- 
ment could  not  lightly  tolerate  ;  and,  since  all 
remonstrances  at  Madrid  proved  useless,  it  was 
at  length  decided  to  take  action.  On  18th  Octo- 
ber, 1822,  the  British  ambassador  at  Madrid  was 
instructed  to  demand  "  instant  atonement  "  for 
the  seizure  of  the  Lord  Collingtvood,  which  had 
been  condemned  for  trading  with  "the  rebels  of 
Buenos  Ayres " ;  at  the  same  time  it  was  an- 
nounced that  reprisals  would  be  made  for  every 
attack  on  British  shipping ;  while,  since  Spain 
seemed  unable,  or  unwilling,  to  rid  the  high  seas 
of  pirates,  a  British  force  was  ordered  to  disembark 
in  Cuba  for  the  purpose  of  exterminating  the  pirate 
nests.  At  the  same  time  the  Spanish  Government 
was  informed  that  this  latter  act  was  not  to  be  con- 
sidered "  unfriendly  ". 

Meanwhile,  the  Allies  at  Verona  had  not  advanced 
beyond  the  somewhat  tentative  expedient  of  the 
"identical  notes".  Corporate  action  had  been 
again  suggested  ;  but  this,  in  view  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander's  generous  offer,  once  more  renewed,  to 
save  the  French  troops  from  possible  infection  in 
the  revolutionary  atmosphere  of  Spain,  by  marching 
a  reliable  Russian  army  over  the  Pyrenees,  had 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL   127 

seemed  to  Metternich,  under  the  circumstances, 
too  perilous  an  expedient ;  and  the  project  dropped. 
The  ambassadors  of  the  three  autocratic  Powers, 
indeed,  solemnly  delivered  their  identical  lectures 
to  the  Spanish  Government ;  and,  these  having  no 
effect,  as  solemnly  withdrew  from  Madrid.  But 
the  fate  of  Spain,  in  fact,  hung  upon  the  determina- 
tion of  the  French  Government ;  and  within  the 
French  Government  opinion  was  divided.  To 
Montmorency  intervention  in  Spain  was  a  matter 
of  principle,  to  be  determined  by  consideration  of 
the  interests  of  Europe.  To  Villele  it  was  an  affair 
of  policy,  to  be  settled  in  accordance  with  the 
interests  of  France.  His  aim  was  to  restore  French 
influence  at  Madrid,  and  ultimately,  perhaps,  by 
helping  Spain  to  recover  her  colonies,  to  win  for 
France  solid  commercial  advantages  ;  and  these 
ends  he  hoped  to  attain  by  peaceful  means.  His 
views  had  the  support  of  the  King  and  of  the 
majority  of  his  colleagues ;  and  Montmorency, 
foreseeing  the  wreck  of  his  policy,  resigned.  The 
act  was  too  precipitate.  To  mark  the  moderation 
of  France,  indeed,  in  contrast  with  the  offensive 
admonitions  of  the  three  autocratic  Powers,  the 
French  ambassador  had  been  instructed  to  hold 
back  for  a  while  the  identical  note  with  which  he 
had  been  entrusted  ;  and  when  it  was  presented, 
the  bitter  medicament  was  disguised  in  a  conserve 
of  friendly  assurances  designed  to  make  it  more 


128  GEORGE  CANNING 

palatable.  It  none  the  less,  however,  failed  of  its 
effect.  The  French  Government  had,  in  fact, 
advanced  too  far  on  the  path  of  war  to  draw  back 
with  impunity.  The  insults  of  the  Spanish  press 
had  wrought  to  fury  more  than  the  royalist  opinion 
of  France  ;  and,  above  all,  the  Government  feared 
the  effect  of  withdrawing  from  the  frontier  the 
great  army  which,  for  weeks  past,  had  been  fed  on 
hopes  of  glory.  Villele  was  forced  to  yield  to  the 
clamour  ;  and  on  23rd  January,  1823,  Louis  XVIII. 
announced  to  the  Chambers,  in  a  speech  from  the 
throne,  that  he  had  withdrawn  his  ambassador  from 
Madrid,  and  that  100,000  Frenchmen  were  about 
to  march,  "  invoking  the  God  of  St.  Louis,  for 
the  sake  of  preserving  the  throne  of  Spain  for  a 
descendant  of  Henry  IV.,  and  of  reconciling  that 
fine  kingdom  with  Europe".  "Let  Ferdinand 
VII.,"  he  said,  "be  free  to  give  to  his  peoples  in- 
stitutions which  they  cannot  hold  but  from  him  !  " 
Throughout  this  entanglement  Canning  had  ex- 
erted himself  to  the  uttermost  to  persuade  the 
contending  parties  to  accept  the  mediation  of 
England.  War,  he  declared,  must  end  either  in 
the  fall  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy  in  France,  or  of 
the  Constitution  in  Spain.  Wellington  was  com- 
missioned to  plead,  as  Duke  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo, 
with  the  Spanish  Govemment,  in  order  to  per- 
suade it  to  modify  its  Constitution  sufficiently  to 
buy  off  the  resentment  of  France.  The  French 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  129 

'Government  was  warned  against  the  danger  to 
the  monarchy  from  entangling  themselves  in  a  new 
Peninsular  War.  Neither  Spain  nor  France  would 
listen.  On  the  other  hand,  the  French  speech  from 
the  throne  seemed  a  direct  challenge  to  Great 
Britain ;  and  Canning  vigorously  protested  against 
it.  England  had  in  1688,  once  for  all,  rejected 
the  doctrine  that  popular  rights  are  £he  gift  of 
the  Crown ;  and  Canning  repudiated  the  publicly 
announced  claim  of  France  to  make  her  own 
example  in  this  respect  a  rule  for  foreign  nations, 
and,  still  more  emphatically,  her  pretension  to 
enforce  this  claim  in  virtue  of  the  relationship 
between  the  ruling  dynasties  of  the  two  kingdoms. 
France  was  reminded  that  the  terms  of  the  Treaty 
of  Utrecht  had  not  yet  fallen  obsolete ;  and,  by 
way  of  enforcing  this  argument,  the  clause  in  the 
King's  speech  announcing  the  neutrality  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  coming  war  was  at  the  last  moment 
omitted. 

In  spite  of  this  bellicose  hint,  however,  Canning 
had  no  intention  of  pressing  his  opposition  to  the 
designs  of  France  to  the  supreme  issue.  In  Par- 
liament loud  voices  were  raised  in  favour  of  flying 
to  the  assistance  of  a  free  country  in  jeopardy, 
others  in  favour  of  helping  by  arms  to  sustain  the 
threatened  balance  of  power.  Neither  argument 
seemed  to  Canning  to  carry  much  weight.  In  his 
politics  there  was  little  room  for  sentiment ;  and 
9 


130  GEORGE  CANNING 

he  quoted  against  the  Opposition  a  sentence  from 
a  speech  delivered  by  one  of  their  own  leaders, 
Lord  Grey,  in  1810  :  "  That  generous  magnanimity 
and  high-minded  disinterestedness  which  justly 
immortalise  the  hero,  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be 
considered  justifiable  motives  of  political  action ; 
because  nations  cannot  afford  to  be  chivalrous  and 
romantic ".  As  for  the  balance  of  power,  he 
pointed  out  that  the  France  of  1823  was  not  that 
of  1808  ;  and  that  Spain,  stripped  of  her  colonies, 
was  no  longer  the  world-power  which  she  had  been 
in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  Any  advantage  that 
France  might  obtain  by  occupying  the  Peninsula 
could,  as  a  last  resort,  be  counterbalanced  by  Great 
Britain  recognising  the  independence  of  the  Spanish 
American  colonies. 

It  was  not  long  before  Canning  was  called  upon 
to  give  effect  to  the  policy  he  had  thus  fore- 
shadowed. The  Due  d'Angouleme,  at  the  head 
of  95,000  men,  crossed  the  Bidassoa  on  7th  April, 
1823.  Within  six  weeks  the  resistance  of  Liberal 
Spain  was  crushed  ;  and  on  20th  March  Ferdinand 
was  free  to  repudiate  once  more  all  his  oaths,  and 
to  enter  again  on  the  unfettered  abuse  of  absolute 
power.  The  triumph  of  the  reaction  in  Spain, 
moreover,  affected  also  the  neighbouring  kingdom 
of  Portugal,  in  which  the  interests  of  Great  Britain 
were  even  more  intimately  concerned.  The  special 
mission  of  Canning  to  Lisbon  in  ]  8 1 6  had  been  for 


AFFAIRS  OF   SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  131 

the  purpose  of  welcoming  the  King  on  his  return 
from  Brazil.  The  King,  however,  had  not  returned, 
and  had  appointed  Marshal  Beresford  Regent  dur- 
ing his  absence.  This  arrangement  had  displeased 
the  Portuguese,  who  had  some  reason  to  think 
that  their  interests  were  being  subordinated  to 
those  of  England  and  of  Brazil;  and,  in  1820, 
fired  by  the  example  of  Spain,  they  rose  in  in- 
surrection, deposed  the  Regent  in  his  absence,  and 
proclaimed  the  Spanish  Constitution  of  1812.  In- 
vited by  the  provisional  Government,  John  VI. 
now  hurried  back  from  Brazil,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
protests  of  his  Queen  Carlotta  and  of  his  second 
son  Dom  Miguel,  accepted  the  Constitution.  His 
eldest  son,  Dom  Pedro,  was  left  as  Regent  in  Brazil, 
with  instructions  to  assume  the  crown  of  that 
country,  should  circumstances  render  it  advisable, 
in  order  to  preserve  it  to  the  House  of  Braganza. 
This  contingency  occurred  in  1822,  when,  on  12th 
October,  the  Junta  at  Rio  proclaimed  the  inde- 
pendence of  Brazil,  and  Pedro  assumed  the  title 
of  Constitutional  Emperor. 

Meanwhile,  at  Lisbon,  a  war  of  intrigue  had 
been  going  on,  the  party  in  opposition  to  the 
King  and  to  the  constitutional  Government  being 
headed  by  Dom  Miguel.  The  situation  was,  more- 
over, complicated  by  the  strife  of  parties  assuming 
a  quasi-international  character ;  for  the  Liberals 
leaned  to  the  English  Alliance,  and  received  the 


132  GEORGE  CANNING 

moral  support  of  Great  Britain ;  while  the  French 
ambassador,  M.  de  Neuville,  in  the  hope  of  ousting 
the  influence  of  England  in  favour  of  that  of  France, 
had  long  been  intriguing  in  the  interests  of  Dom 
Miguel  and  his  faction.  When,  therefore,  in  1822, 
Dom  Miguel,  encouraged  by  the  absolutist  triumph 
in  Spain,  by  a  successful  coup  d'etat  suppressed  the 
Constitution,  this  was  rightly  regarded  as  a  serious 
blow  to  English  influence  in  Portugal,  and  a  menace 
to  her  trade  interests. 

The  downfall  of  the  Constitution  had,  at  the 
outset,  been  joyfully  welcomed  by  the  Portuguese, 
who,  like  the  Athenians  of  old,  ever  desired  to 
hear  or  see  some  new  thing.  But  they  soon 
wearied  of  Miguel's  mediaeval  methods  of  govern- 
ment ;  and,  in  response  to  their  clamour,  the 
easy-going  King  appointed  a  Commission,  under 
the  "  Anglophile  "  M.  de  Palmella,  to  draw  up  a 
new  Constitution.  Against  this  concession  to  re- 
volutionary agitation  the  ambassadors  of  the  three 
autocratic  Powers  protested,  and  the  "  Apostolic- 
als  "  raged  ;  till  Palmella,  fearing  a  fresh  resort  to 
violence,  appealed  to  Great  Britain  to  despatch  a 
force  to  help  the  Government  establish  the  Con- 
stitution. 

For  Canning  the  situation  was  a  singularly 
awkward  one.  To  refrain  from  sending  help 
would  be  to  risk,  not  only  the  oversetting  of 
the  Constitution,  but  the  permanent  eclipse  of 


British  influence  in  Lisbon.  To  send  help  would 
be  to  give  the  lie  to  all  his  protests  against 
"  intervention  " — would  be,  in  fact,  no  more  than 
an  imitation,  in  a  reverse  sense,  of  the  action  of 
Austria  in  Naples  and  Piedmont.  He  refused, 
then,  to  guarantee  the  Constitution  of  Portugal 
against  internal  troubles,  as  he  had  refused  to  help 
in  saving  that  of  Spain.  Yet  both  British  in- 
terests and  British  honour  forbade  that  England 
should  stand  aside  under  the  actual  circumstances. 
The  relations  between  the  two  countries  had  long 
been  extremely  intimate  ;  and,  under  the  old 
treaties  of  l66l  and  1763,  the  validity  of  which 
had  been  reaffirmed  in  1815  at  Vienna,  Great 
Britain  had  undertaken,  in  return  for  commercial 
advantages,  the  special  duty  of  protecting  Portugal 
against  foreign  aggression.  Canning,  then,  so  far 
strained  the  doctrine  of  Non-intervention  as  to 
send  a  British  squadron  to  the  Tagus,  to  act  as  a 
"  moral  support "  to  the  Government ;  and  when 
it  became  increasingly  apparent  that  France  was 
using  the  reactionary  zeal  of  the  autocratic  Powers 
for  her  own  ends — to  oust  British  influence  from 
Lisbon  —  and  had  joined  with  them  in  violent 
threats  against  the  Constitution,  he  declared  that 
Great  Britain  would  resist  by  force  of  arms  any 
attempt  of  the  Powers  to  intervene  in  Portugal. 
"  This  policy,  at  once  vigorous  and  restrained, 
was  in  the  long  run  successful.  When,  in  April, 


134  GEORGE  CANNING 

1824,  the  conflict  within  the  Portuguese  Govern- 
ment culminated  once  more  in  a  "  pronuncia- 
mento"  of  Dom  Miguel,  the  King  and  the 
Liberal  Ministers  found  a  refuge  on  board  the 
British  warships,  and  the  "moral  support"  of 
the  English  admiral  sufficed  to  frighten  the 
successful  conspirator  into  submission  and  exile. 
For  a  while,  indeed,  even  after  this  temporary 
collapse  of  Miguel's  schemes,  the  struggle  be- 
tween France  and  England  in  Lisbon  continued; 
for  even  the  Liberal  leaders  were  offended  at 
Canning's  attitude  towards  the  independence  of 
Brazil.  But  in  the  end  the  continued  hostility 
of  the  autocratic  Powers  towards  the  Constitution 
destroyed  the  influence  at  Lisbon  of  De  Neuville, 
who  had  identified  himself  with  their  views. 
Meanwhile,  on  Canning's  initiative,  a  conference 
of  the  representatives  of  England,  Austria,  Por- 
tugal and  Brazil,  in  July,  1825,  assembled  in 
London,  to  define  the  relations  between  Brazil 
and  the  mother-country.  During  its  session  it 
was  discovered  that  M.  de  Subserra,  the  anti- 
British  Portuguese  Prime  Minister,  was  endeavour- 
ing to  effect  a  separate  settlement  with  Brazil. 
Canning  at  once  demanded,  and  obtained,  his 
dismissal ;  De  Neuville  was  shortly  afterwards  re- 
called, and  the  victory  of  British  diplomacy  was 
complete. 

The  independence  of  Brazil,  which  was  formally 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  1S5 

acknowledged  by  the  recognition  by  the  King  of 
Portugal,  on  29th  August,  1825,  of  the  Emperor 
Pedro's  title,  had  already  been  practically  recog- 
nised by  the  signature,  in  July,  1824,  of  a  com- 
mercial treaty  between  Brazil  and  Great  Britain. 
This  recognition,  in  logic,  involved  that  of  the 
Spanish  South  American  colonies,  which  had  long 
ceased  to  have  any  de  facto  dependence  upon  Spain. 
This  Canning  allowed ;  but  he  none  the  less  pro- 
ceeded in  the  matter  with  characteristic  caution. 
He  studied  the  question,  as  usual,  primarily  from 
the  point  of  view  of  British  interests ;  and  these 
might  easily  have  been  jeopardised  by  hasty 
action.  That  any  recognition  of  republics  beyond 
the  Atlantic  would  still  further  offend  the  auto- 
cratic Powers  exercised  him  little ;  the  less  so 
since,  in  the  event  of  trouble  arising  in  that 
quarter,  he  could  reckon  on  the  sympathy  of  the 
United  States.  The  claim  of  the  Alliance  to 
interfere  in  the  quarrel  between  Spain  and  her 
colonies  had  been  repudiated  by  Castlereagh  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  ;  but  it  had  been  none  the  less 
once  and  again  revived,  and  it  was  this  that 
primarily  led  to  the  enunciation  of  the  famous 
"  Monroe  doctrine "  of  "  America  for  the  Ameri- 
cans," first  proclaimed  in  the  message  of  President 
Monroe  to  the  Senate  on  2nd  December,  1824. 
Against  the  extreme  claims  announced  in  this, 
indeed,  Canning,  in  the  name  of  the  British  Gov- 


136  GEORGE  CANNING 

ernment,  had  protested.  For  the  United  States 
to  pretend  to  a  lien  on  all  the  unoccupied  terri- 
tories of  the  American  continent,  and  to  a  right 
to  exclude  all  European  Powers,  including  Great 
Britain,  from  colonising  them,  could  be  justified, 
in  his  opinion,  neither  by  international  law,  nor 
by  the  actual  balance  of  power  in  America.  In 
the  difficult  "  Oregon  question,"  too,  involving 
the  rights  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
to  the  north-western  sea-board  of  America,  Can- 
ning was  inclined  to  resist  the  demands  of  the 
American  Government ;  and  he  pointed  out  to  Lord 
Liverpool,  to  whom  the  whole  matter  seemed  of 
little  importance,  how  valuable  to  the  future  trade 
with  China  the  English  possessions  on  the  Pacific 
coast  were  likely  to  become.  But  though,  as  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  her  revolted  daughter, 
the  Monroe  doctrine  was  calculated  to  breed 
trouble,  it  was  exceedingly  useful  in  forwarding 
Canning's  policy  in  the  matter  of  the  Spanish 
colonies;  for  the  attitude  of  the  United  States 
once  made  plain,  all  thought  of  European  inter- 
vention in  America  was  at  an  end. 

On  this  point,  indeed,  Canning  had  come  to  a 
complete  understanding  with  Mr.  Rush,  the  Ameri- 
can Minister  in  London,  and  to  his  influence  the 
policy  of  the  United  States  in  the  matter  may  be 
partly  ascribed.  But  there  were  other  considera- 
tions involved.  In  the  first  place,  the  revolted 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN   AND  PORTUGAL  137 

colonies  were  only  gradually  settling  down  ;  and 
until  they  had  acquired  some  form  of  stable 
government  it  would  be  worse  than  useless  to 
enter  into  relations  with  them.  Moreover,  under 
pressure  of  the  danger  from  France  the  constitu- 
tional Government  of  Spain  had  conceded  the 
demands  of  England  in  the  matter  of  the  right 
to  trade  with  her  American  possessions  ;  and,  so 
long  as  the  Spanish  King  should  be  content  to 
maintain  the  treaties  signed  by  him  while  still 
in  the  hated  bonds  of  the  Constitution,  it  would 
have  been  needless,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
British  interests,  to  offend  the  susceptibilities  of 
Spain  by  any  formal  acknowledgment  of  what  was 
for  all  practical  purposes  already  recognised. 

The  whole  question  was  ultimately  determined 
by  the  position  of  the  French  in  the  Peninsula. 
Canning  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  resist  the 
French  invasion  of  Spain,  because  Spain  was  no 
longer  the  "  Empire  on  which  the  sun  never  set," 
no  longer  a  menace  to  the  world-power  of  Great 
Britain.  Had  France  been  content,  or  able,  to 
withdraw,  after  setting  up  once  more  the  ab- 
solutism of  the  Bourbon  monarchy,  British  interests 
would  not  have  been  seriously  threatened.  But 
France  had  not  withdrawn,  and  showed  no  im- 
mediate disposition  to  do  so.  And  so  long  as  she 
remained  in  Spain,  the  danger  was  ever  present 
that  she  would,  in  her  own  interests,  help  the 


138  GEORGE  CANNING 

Spanish  monarchy  to  reconquer  its  colonial  Empire. 
It  was  to  obviate  this  peril  that  Canning  decided  to 
recognise  the  independence  of  the  South  American 
States.  Columbia  and  Mexico,  the  first  to  establish 
a  settled  government,  were  recognised  in  December, 
1824.  The  recognition  of  the  others  followed,  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  Government  was  assured  that 
they  were  in  a  position  to  maintain  their  engage- 
ments with  Great  Britain.  Canning,  in  the  famous 
speech  of  16'th  December,  1826,  defended  and 
explained  this  policy.  "  If  France  occupied  Spain," 
he  said,  "  was  it  necessary,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
consequences  of  that  occupation,  that  we  should 
blockade  Cadiz  ?  No.  I  looked  another  way — 1 
sought  materials  of  compensation  in  another 
hemisphere.  Contemplating  Spain,  such  as  our 
ancestors  had  known  her,  I  resolved  that  if  France 
had  Spain,  it  should  not  be  Spain  'with  the  Indies'. 
I  called  the  New  World  into  existence,  to  redress 
the  balance  of  the  Old." 

The  recognition  of  the  South  American  States, 
though  in  some  sort  the  climax,  was  by  no  means 
the  end  of  the  conflict  between  French  and  British 
interests  in  the  Peninsula.  The  death  of  King 
John  VI.  reunited  the  crowns  of  Portugal  and 
Brazil  once  more,  in  the  person  of  the  Emperor 
Pedro  ;  and  the  whole  question,  which  had  been 
temporarily  settled  by  the  declaration  of  Brazilian 
independence,  threatened  once  more  to  be  re- 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  1S9 

opened.  To  meet  this  danger  Canning  instructed 
Lord  Ponsonby,  who  was  about  to  start  to  take  up 
his  duties  as  British  Minister  at  Buenos  Ayres,  to 
break  his  journey  at  Rio  and  to  suggest  to  the 
Emperor  that  he  should  abdicate  the  throne  of 
Portugal  in  favour  of  his  daughter,  Donna  Maria 
la  Gloria,  and  reconcile  the  opposing  factions  in 
the  kingdom  by  marrying  the  latter  to  her  uncle, 
Dom  Miguel.  This  course  was  actually  followed  ; 
but,  before  resigning  the  crown,  Pedro  issued  a 
charter  establishing  a  Liberal  Constitution  in  the 
kingdom.  The  document  embodying  this  was 
carried  to  Portugal,  without  instructions  from  the 
British  Government,  by  Sir  Charles  Stuart,  who 
had  been  on  a  diplomatic  mission  on  behalf  of  the 
Portuguese  Government  to  Rio.  Canning  at  once 
saw  the  misunderstandings  and  troubles  which,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  actually  accrued  from  this  ap- 
parently innocuous  proceeding.  Apart  from  the 
fact  that  it  would  appear  to  foreign  countries 
like  an  act  of  that  very  intervention  which  Can- 
ning had  all  along  repudiated,  it  was  peculiarly 
obnoxious  to  France,  which,  having  just  suppressed 
the  "  revolution  "  in  Spain,  could  not  view  with 
equanimity  the  establishment,  under  the  aegis  of 
a  foreign  Power,  of  a  Liberal  Constitution  in  the 
neighbouring  kingdom.  Austria,  too,  which  had 
throughout  acted  in  harmony  with  Great  Britain 
in  the  Brazilian  question,  would  be  offended  by 


140  GEORGE  CANNING 

an  act  so  offensive  to  Dom  Miguel,  whom,  since 
the  failure  of  his  last  coup  d'ttat,  she  had  been 
keeping  out  of  mischief  at  Vienna.  Lastly,  Miguel 
himself,  the  very  incarnation  of  absolutism,  would 
never  honestly  accept  an  instrument  by  which  his 
powers  would  be  so  seriously  limited.  Canning, 
moreover,  who  was  the  soul  of  honour,  resented 
the  air  of  underhand  intrigue  which  the  whole 
affair  would  wear  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Yet, 
the  Constitution  having  been  proclaimed,  nothing 
remained,  in  his  opinion,  but  to  make  the  best  of 
the  situation.  He  endeavoured,  by  a  frank  ex- 
planation, to  soothe  the  suspicious  temper  of  the 
Powers,  and,  while  disclaiming  any  intention  on 
the  part  of  England  to  interfere  in  the  internal 
concerns  of  Portugal,  begged  them  to  accept  the 
fait  accompli,  rather  than  to  plunge  Portugal  again 
into  the  miseries  of  civil  strife  by  encouraging  the 
irreconcilable  temper  of  Miguel. 

Canning's  fears  were  justified  by  the  event. 
Miguel,  indeed,  took  the  oath  of  fealty  at  Vienna  ; 
but  his  partisans  in  Portugal  rose  against  the  con- 
stitutional regime  ;  bands  of  "  Apostolicals,"  openly 
armed  and  organised  with  the  connivance  of  the 
Spanish  Government,  crossed  the  frontier  from 
Spain  to  their  aid ;  and  the  Portuguese  Govern- 
ment, hard  pressed  and  unable  to  depend  on  the 
loyalty  or  the  discipline  of  the  army,  appealed 
to  Great  Britain  for  help.  On  17th  December, 


AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL  141 

1826,  the  first  British  contingent  sailed  for 
Lisbon. 

The  expedition  to  Portugal  Canning  defended, 
in  his  speech  of  12th  December,  1826,  on  the 
ground  of  ancient  treaties  by  which  Great  Britain 
was  bound  to  defend  that  country  in  case  of  hos- 
tile attack  from  outside.  The  attitude  of  the 
Spanish  Government,  and  its  open  encouragement 
of  the  armed  bands  which  crossed  the  frontiers 
of  Spain,  constituted  in  his  opinion  such  a  foreign 
attack.  In  a  letter  of  4th  February,  1827,  to  Lord 
Liverpool,  he  not  only  clearly  defined  the  objects 
of  the  expedition,  but  also  suggested  an  improve- 
ment in  the  general  situation  which  might  result 
from  it.  The  objects  were  "first,  to  repel  foreign 
aggression,  and  to  put  down  (or  enable  the 
Government  of  Portugal  to  put  down)  the  in- 
ternal disturbances  which  had  grown  out  of  it. 
Secondly,  to  obtain  from  Spain  atonement  for 
the  past,  by  the  establishment  of  direct  political 
relations  with  Portugal  ;  and  security  for  the 
future,  by  satisfactory  assurances  and  engage- 
ments. Thirdly,  to  watch  over  the  full  perform- 
ance of  such  engagements  and  assurances." 

The  improvement  in  the  general  situation 
would  accrue  from  the  opportunity  the  presence 
of  the  British  troops  in  Portugal  would  give  for 
coming  to  a  friendly  agreement  with  France  as 
to  the  evacuation  of  Spain.  The  presence  of  the 


142  GEORGE  CANNING 

French  troops  in  Spain  was  a  constant  menace 
to  the  security  of  European  peace ;  Villele  him- 
self was  anxious  to  withdraw  in  any  way  consistent 
with  the  honour  and  the  interests  of  France ;  and 
he  might  be  helped  out  of  a  difficult  position  by 
making  the  recall  of  the  British  troops  from 
Portugal  unostentatiously  reciprocal  upon  the  re- 
tirement of  the  French  army  from  Spain. 

The  whole  letter  in  which  these  views  are  ex- 
pressed is  interesting  as  showing  the  clear  grasp 
of  Canning  on  a  very  difficult  and  complicated 
situation.  Unhappily  his  firmness  and  moderation 
were  not  destined  to  unravel  the  tangled  knot. 
Dom  Miguel  took  the  oaths  as  Regent  of  Portu- 
gal on  2pth  February,  1827  ;  and  in  the  following 
April  the  British  troops  were  withdrawn.  Can- 
ning did  not  live  to  see  the  final  evacuation  of 
Spain  by  the  French,  and  only  survived  long 
enough  to  witness  the  fulfilment  of  his  own  fore- 
bodings in  Miguel's  usurpation  of  the  throne  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  ill-fated  Constitution. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE   WAR  OF   GREEK    INDEPENDENCE 

The  "  Eastern  question  "  and  the  Continental  Alliance — 
Insurrection  in  Greece — Metternich  and  Alexander  I. 
— Canning  and  the  Greek  question — The  Flag  of 
Greece  recognised — Intervention  of  Mehemet  Ali — 
Death  of  Alexander  I. — Mission  of  Wellington  to  St. 
Petersburg — The  "  Protocol  of  St.  Petersburg  " — Can- 
ning and  Nicholas  I. — Appeal  of  the  Greeks  to  Great 
Britain  —  Conference  of  London  —  The  Treaty  of 
London. 

" r  I  ^HE  issue  of  Verona,"  wrote  Canning  on 
J.  3rd  January,  1823,  "has  split  the  one 
and  indivisible  Alliance  into  three  parts  as  dis- 
tinct as  the  Constitutions  of  England,  France  and 
Muscovy."  This  was,  in  his  view,  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  wished  ;  and  he  declared,  with  a 
note  of  exultation,  that  England  would  hence- 
forward "revolve  in  her  own  orbit".  Of  this  dis- 
quieting fact  continental  statesmen  were  early, 
and  uneasily,  conscious.  "  M.  Canning,"  reported 
Prince  Lieven  from  London  to  his  master  the  Tsar, 
"is  more  insular  than  European;"  and  Metternich, 
(143) 


144  GEORGE  CANNING 

with  an  unconscious  modification  of  Canning's 
astronomical  metaphor,  spoke  of  him  as  a  "malevo- 
lent meteor  "  hurled  by  Providence  upon  England 
and  upon  Europe. 

Yet  Canning's  breach  with  the  "  European  sys- 
tem "  only  hastened  a  dissolution  which  was,  sooner 
or  later,  inevitable.  Verona  had  revealed  the  rift  in 
the  lute  ;  but  the  music  would  have  been  silenced 
there  and  then,  had  Metternich  not  succeeded  in 
withdrawing  from  the  debates  of  the  Congress  a 
subject  far  more  delicate  than  that  of  Spain — 
that  which  became  known  from  this  time  as  the 
Eastern  question.  It  was,  indeed,  shrewdly  sus- 
pected even  then  that  Metternich's  zeal  for  crush- 
ing the  Revolution  in  Western  Europe  was  largely 
inspired  by  his  anxiety  to  distract  the  mind  of  the 
Russian  autocrat  from  the  affairs  of  the  East.  So 
long  as  he  could  hold  Alexander  under  the  spell  of 
the  Holy  Alliance  and  fix  his  wandering  imagina- 
tion on  his  vision  of  himself  as  the  peace-maker  of 
Europe,  there  was  the  less  risk  the  Emperor  turning 
again  to  a  purely  Russian  policy  and — what  Austria 
above  all  things  dreaded — attempting  to  realise 
the  dream  of  Peter  the  Great  and  of  Catherine  : 
that  of  the  Orthodox  Empire  of  the  East  re- 
established, under  the  Russian  Tsars,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Bosphorus. 

This  fear  of  a  renewed  Russian  attack  on  Turkey, 
which  had  more  or  less  exercised  the  minds  of  the 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  145 

other  Powers  ever  since  they  had  noted  with  mis- 
giving the  conscious  exclusion  of  the  Sultan  from 
Alexander's   Holy    League,    received    fresh    point 
when  the  news  reached  the  Congress  at  Laybach 
that  a  Greek  insurrection  had  broken  out  in  the 
Danubian   principalities,   and    that    the    leader  of 
this  insurrection,  Prince  Hypsilanti,  was  a  general 
in  the  Russian  service.     Metternich,  indeed,  suc- 
ceeded   in    persuading    the    Tsar    to    disavow    all 
sympathy   with    the    movement ;    which,    in    con- 
sequence,  speedily  collapsed.     A    fresh,    and    far 
more  serious,  rising,  however,  immediately  after- 
wards broke  out  in  the  Morea,  and  spread  with 
great  rapidity  throughout  the  mainland  and  islands 
of  Greece.     The  war  from  the  first  assumed  a  re- 
ligious  character  and  one  of  singular  ferocity  on 
both   sides.     Wholesale  atrocities  on   the   part  of 
the  insurgents  were  met  by  even  more  wholesale 
cruelties  on  the  other  side ;  and  these  culminated, 
on  the  eve  of  Easter,  1821,  in  the  official  murder  of 
the  Orthodox  Patriarch  at  Constantinople.     Again 
it  seemed  as  though  a  Russian  movement  against 
Turkey    was    inevitable.      The    sentiment    of  the 
Russian   people    had    been    from    the    first    with 
their  co-religionists  ;  the  martyrdom  of  the  head 
of  the  Orthodox  Church  raised  their  excitement 
to  fever  heat.     Had  Alexander  been  in   Russia  he 
would  probably  have  been  swept  away  in  the  fierce 
tide  of  resentment,  and  war  would  at  once  have 
10 


146  GEORGE  CANNING 

resulted.  But  Metternich  was  at  his  elbow  to 
persuade  him  once  more  to  subordinate  the  feel- 
ings of  Russia  to  the  interests  of  Europe  ;  and, 
though  diplomatic  relations  between  Russia  and 
the  Ottoman  Empire  were  broken  off,  the  Greeks 
were  left  to  fight  their  battles  alone.  When,  in 
1822,  the  Hellenic  provisional  Government  sent 
envoys  to  Verona,  to  solicit  aid  of  the  Tsar,  they 
were  turned  back  upon  the  road  by  a  message  that  ~ 
they  would  not  be  received. 

Such  was  the  general  situation  when  Canning 
came  into  office.  On  the  question  at  large  he 
was,  at  the  outset,  in  agreement  with  Metternich. 
Both  Great  Britain  and  Austria  were  committed 
to  the  policy  of  preserving  Turkey  as  a  bulwark 
against  Russian  ambition  ;  both  were  equally  in- 
terested in  preventing  Russia  from  taking  up  arms 
as  the  champion  of  Greece.  For  all  his  ill  opinion 
of  Metternich  and  his  methods,  Canning  acknow- 
ledged the  value  of  the  clever  diplomacy  by  which 
he  had  succeeded  in  postponing  an  issue  fraught 
with  peril  to  the  world's  peace ;  and  though  he 
lacked  Metternich's  cynicism,  he  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  shared  his  opinion  that  the  con- 
flagration in  Turkey  would  be  best  left  to  burn 
itself  out  "  beyond  the  borders  of  civilisation ". 
Metternich  believed,  wrongly  as  the  issue  proved, 
in  the  rapid  victory  of  the  Turks  ;  and  this  was  a 
result  which  Canning,  as  a  statesman,  would  have 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  147 

done  nothing  to  prevent,  had  it  appeared  the 
readiest  road  to  a  settlement  ;  but  when  the 
stubborn  spirit  of  the  insurgents  made  this  solu- 
tion impossible,  he  was  glad  that  an  intervention, 
dictated  in  the  first  instance  by  the  interests  of 
England,  made  also  for  those  of  Hellas. 

Nothing  is  more  striking,  or  more  characteristic, 
than  Canning's  whole  attitude  in  the  Greek  ques- 
tion. By  nature  and  by  education  his  sympathies 
were  with  Greece,  then  even  more  than  now  the 
land  of  undefiled  classic  memories.  Yet  though 
the  air  was  full  of  voices  urging  him  to  go  to  the 
assistance  of  the  noble  descendants  of  Plato  and 
of  Pericles,  he  kept  the  even  balance  of  his  judg- 
ment. "I  have  never  understood,"  he  said,  "why 
this  particular  war,  of  all  others,  is  selected  as 
the  one  that  must  be  put  an  end  to,  at  whatever 
cost.  I  am  of  quite  another  opinion  ;  I  think  that 
the  cost  may  be  much  greater  than  the  mischief." 
If,  then,  Canning's  portrait  has  its  place  at  Athens 
among  the  liberators  of  Hellas,  this  is  no  more 
than  a  memorial  of  the  fact  that  his  policy, 
though  dictated  from  first  to  last  by  considera- 
tion for  British  interests,  involved  ultimately  the 
emancipation  of  Greece. 

So  long  as  the  effects  of  the  war  were  confined 
within  the  limits  of  the  Turkish  dominions,  Can- 
ning had  a  double  motive  for  leaving  it  to  itself; 
for  any  intervention  would  not  only  have  opened 


148  GEORGE  CANNING 

up  the  whole  Eastern  question,  with  all  its  incal- 
culable and  perilous  issues,  but  would  have  been  a 
violation  of  those  international  principles  of  which 
he  had  made  himself  the  most  conspicuous  cham- 
pion.    In  his  view  Great  Britain    was  "bound  in 
political  justice  to  respect,  in  the  case  of  Turkey, 
that  national  independence  which,  in  case  of  civil 
commotion,  she  would  look  to  have  respected  in 
her  own".     In  this  he  was  but  following  the  pre- 
cedent set,  early  in  1822,  by  Lord  Londonderry, 
who  had  refused  to  join  with  Russia  in  demanding 
from  the  Porte  a  guarantee  for  better  government 
in  the  Christian  provinces,  as  this  would  be  to  re- 
cognise the   right  of   Russia    to  intervene   in  the 
internals    concerns   of  Turkey.      From  this   point 
of  view,  indeed,  British  statesmen  were  in  a  much 
better  position   than   Metternich  for  resisting  the 
warlike  impulses   of  the    Russian   Emperor.     The 
latter  was  hard  pressed  for  arguments  when  Alex- 
ander proposed  to  march  into  Turkey,  as  Austria 
had  marched  into  Naples,  and   to  fight,    not    for 
himself,  but — true  to  his  vow  to   the   European 
Federation — for  all.     Londonderry,  and  after  him 
Canning,   were   in  no    such    dilemma.      Whatever 
their  view  as  to  the  just  grievances  of  Russia  in 
respect  of  the  violation  by  the  Porte  of  specific 
treaty  rights,  the  principle  of  "  non-intervention  " 
gave    them   a   firm    standing   ground  in  resisting 
Alexander's   claim    for  a   free    mandate    to    settle 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  149 

the  affairs  of  the  East  in  the  vague  interests  of 
the  general  good ;  which  would  have  meant,  in 
effect,  the  interests  of  Russia. 

Canning  fully  realised,  and  exulted  in,  the 
advantage  which  in  this  situation  Great  Britain 
derived  from  her  isolation.  "  Let  Allied  Europe 
meet  again,"  he  wrote,  "  and  by  analogy  and 
implication  not  to  be  resisted,  let  the  neighbour- 
ing Power  be  deputed  to  set  these  convulsions 
at  rest."  France  and,  for  the  matter  of  that, 
Austria  must  resist  a  Congress,  if  they  did  not 
wish  to  see  Russia  marching  on  Constantinople. 
"  We,"  he  added,  "  could  protest  in  any  case." 

More  immediately  perilous  to  peace,  however, 
than  Alexander's  demand  for  a  European  man- 
date to  go  on  crusade,  was  the  stubborn  refusal 
of  the  Ottoman  Government  to  redress  the  just 
grievances  of  Russia.  Greek  ships  sailing  under 
the  Russian  flag  had  been  seized  in  the  Bosphorus ; 
and,  apart  from  the  cruelties  exercised  in  Turkey 
generally  over  that  Christian  population  which  the 
Tsar  claimed  to  protect,  the  Porte,  in  violation  of 
specific  treaty  engagements,  still  maintained  an 
armed  force  in  the  Danubian  principalities,  for 
the  alleged  purpose  of  keeping  order.  Canning 
realised  that,  until  these  questions  were  settled, 
diplomatic  relations  between  Russia  and  Turkey 
could  not  be  resumed,  and  that  the  risk  of  war 
would  continue.  He  therefore  instructed  Lord 


150  GEORGE  CANNING 

Strangford,  the  British  ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople, on  the  one  hand  to  press  the  Porte  to 
concede  the  just  demands  of  Russia,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  showing  greater  moderation  towards  the 
rebels,  to  disarm  the  anger  of  the  great  Orthodox 
Power.  The  efforts  of  Lord  Strangford,  seconded 
by  those  of  the  Austrian  internuncio,  were  in  the 
end  successful  in  persuading  the  Divan  to  yield 
the  more  important  points  in  dispute  with  Russia — 
the  evacuation  of  the  principalities  and  the  rights 
of  the  Russian  flag  in  the  Bosphorus.  But  owing 
to  the  stubborn  pride  of  the  Porte,  the  negotiations 
had  been  so  long  dragged  on,  that  when  they  were 
at  last  concluded  the  situation  had  so  changed  that 
the  concessions  were  no  longer  adequate  to  the  end 
aimed  at. 

The  origin  of  this  change  was  the  recognition, 
on  25th  March,  1823,  by  the  British  Government 
of  the  Greeks  as  belligerents.  This  measure,  like 
all  Canning's  policy,  was  dictated  primarily  by  the 
interests  of  England.  The  Greek  warships,  mostly 
armed  brigs  privately  fitted  out,  had  degenerated 
into  pirates,  and  preyed  upon  the  commerce  of  all 
nations ;  trade  in  the  Archipelago  was  practically 
at  a  stand-still  ;  and  the  Ottoman  Government, 
which  was  nominally  responsible  for  this  state  of 
things,  had  quite  lost  control  of  the  seas.  Apart 
from  the  danger  that  it  was  open  to  any  Power 
to  use  its  grievances  in  this  respect  as  a  pretext 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  151 

for  armed  intervention  against  the  Porte,  the  situa- 
tion itself  was  day  by  day  growing  increasingly 
intolerable  ;  and  Canning  announced  that  some 
action  was  necessary.  "  The  recognition  of  the 
belligerent  rights  of  the  Greeks,"  he  said,  "was 
necessitated  by  the  impossibility  of  treating  as 
pirates  a  population  of  a  million  souls,  and  of 
bringing  within  the  bounds  of  civilised  war  a 
contest  which  had  been  marked  at  the  outset,  on 
both  sides,  by  disgusting  barbarities  ; " — for,  the 
flag  of  Greece  once  recognised,  the  Greek  pro- 
visional Government  could  be  made  responsible 
for  the  outrages  committed  in  its  name. 

Whatever  the  necessities  which  had  justified 
this  move,  to  the  other  Powers  it  was  a  clear 
proof  of  the  "selfish"  ambitions  of  Great  Britain 
in  the  East.  To  Alexander,  it  seemed  that  she 
was  about  to  take  advantage  of  his  obligations  to 
;he  Holy  Alliance,  to  steal  a  march  upon  Russia, 
ind  to  pose  as  the  sole  protector  of  the  Greeks. 
To  forestall  any  such  isolated  action,  he  once  more 
mooted  the  subject  of  a  joint  intervention  of  the 
Allies.  So  far  as  concerned  the  Eastern  question, 
however,  the  Grand  Alliance  had  ceased  to  have 
any  cohesion.  Whatever  the  common  ground  of 
the  majority  of  the  Powers  may  have  been  at  an 
earlier  stage,  the  action  of  England  in  recognising 
the  Greek  flag  had  made  a  new  basis  of  negotia- 
tion inevitable  ;  for  the  insurgents  could  no  longer 


152  GEORGE  CANNING 

be  regarded  merely  as  commonplace  rebels  against 
legitimate  authority.  The  reactionary  Powers 
were,  in  fact,  on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma.  The 
stubborn  resistance  of  the  Greeks  had  stultified 
Metternich's  policy  of  isolating  the  war,  which 
Canning  had  now  brought  "  within  the  pale  of 
civilisation".  That  the  Powers  must  ultimately 
intervene  in  the  interests  of  Europe  was  now 
certain ;  but  as  to  the  method  and  the  object  of 
this  intervention,  opinion  was  hopelessly  ir  the 
dark.  To  help  the  Turks  crush  the  Greeks  was 
obviously  impossible,  even  had  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander been  personally  opposed  to  the  sentiment 
of  his  people.  To  take  the  part  of  the  insurgents 
would  be  to  give  the  lie  to  every  principle  which 
had  hitherto  inspired  the  actions  and  the  utter- 
ances of  the  concert.  To  Canning  the  situation 
afforded  exquisite  entertainment ;  and  he  watched 
with  insular  complacency  the  statesmen  of  the 
Alliance  floundering  in  a  diplomatic  bog  from 
which  there  was  no  apparent  escape. 

To  the  Emperor  Alexander  the  position  was  less 
amusing ;  and  for  a  while  it  seemed  as  though  he 
were  about  to  desert  the  dream  of  confederated 
Europe  in  favour  of  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
Tsars.  The  war  party  at  St.  Petersburg,  which 
had  languished  since  the  dismissal,  in  1822,  of 
the  Greek  Minister  Count  Capodistrias,  once  more 
gained  the  ascendency  ;  and  had  the  intractable 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE    153 

temper  of  the  Porte  continued,  Alexander  would 
probably  have  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  an 
Orthodox  crusade.  The  concession  of  the  main 
points  at  issue  by  Turkey  disarmed  his  wrath  ; 
but,  in  sending  an  agent  to  Constantinople  to 
watch  over  the  carrying  out  of  the  terms  of  the 
new  treaties,  he  explained  that  full  diplomatic 
relations  would  only  be  resumed  in  response  to 
further  concessions.  What  these  concessions  were 
to  be  was  soon  revealed.  In  October,  1823,  the 
Tsar  had  discussed  the  whole  situation  with  the 
Emperor  Francis  at  Czernovitz,  and  had  suggested 
to  him,  informally,  that  a  conference  of  the  Powers 
should  be  summoned  to  St.  Petersburg,  to  arrange 
for  a  joint  intervention  on  the  basis  of  the  erec- 
tion of  Greece  and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago 
into  three  principalities,  under  Ottoman  suzerainty, 
and  guaranteed  by  the  European  Alliance.  The 
suggestion  was  formally  repeated  in  a  Russian  cir- 
cular of  January,  1824,  in  which  it  was  pointed  out 
that  "the  efforts  of  the  Imperial  Government  to 
bring  about  a  collective  intervention  were  the  best 
proof  of  its  disinterestedness  ".  Neither  Canning 
nor  Metternich  shared  this  view.  The  latter  was 
alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  the  establishment  in 
the  south  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  of  a  semi- 
independent  State  on  the  model  of  the  Danubian 
principalities,  which  it  was  assumed  would  be  sub- 
ject to  the  preponderating  influence  of  Russia. 


154  GEORGE  CANNING 

Better  than  such  a  solution,  from  the  Austrian 
point  of  view,  would  be  the  erection  of  Greece 
into  a  State  absolutely  independent  and  sovereign  ; 
and,  by  way  of  countermove  to  the  Tsar's  pro- 
posals, he  suggested  this  expedient  to  the  startled 
Powers.  As  for  Canning,  apart  from  his  general 
dislike  for  conferences  and  concerts,  he  suspected 
that  the  present  one  was  a  mere  device  for  ham- 
pering the  free  initiative  of  Great  Britain ;  and  he 
had  no  intention  of  taking  part  in  it  only  to  act  as 
a  buffer  between  the  colliding  interests  of  Russia 
and  Austria.  "Austria,"  he  said,  "is  for  putting 
down  the  insurrection.  Russia  is  for  not  setting 
it  up.  Ours  Metternich  supposes  is  for  setting  it 
up.  This,  he  supposes,  would  drive  Russia  into 
a  middle  position  between  Austria  and  us ;  and 
then,  with  the  aid  of  Spanish  America  and  the 
conflicting  maritime  interests  of  Russia  and  Greece, 
he  could  gradually  win  over  Alexander  to  his 
views."  There  was,  besides,  another  reason  for 
Canning's  objection  to  taking  part  in  the  meeting. 
European  intervention,  short  of  a  demonstration  of 
force  which  he  was  not  prepared  to  allow,  could 
only  be  effective  if  both  belligerents  were  prepared 
to  accept  the  arbitrament  of  the  Powers.  But  the 
Ottoman  Government  had  protested  vigorously 
against  the  pretension  of  the  Allies  to  dictate  to 
it ;  and  the  Greek  insurgents  had  no  less  vigor- 
ously rejected  all  idea  of  resting  content  with  the 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  155 

terms  outlined  in  the  Tsar's  note.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  decided  that  Great  Britain  should 
take  no  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  conference  on 
the  Russian  circular.  Upon  this,  Alexander,  in  a 
pique,  declared  all  negotiations  on  the  subject 
between  Russia  and  England  closed. 

The  situation  was  once  more  modified  by  new 
and  alarming  developments  in  Greece.  Sultan 
Mahmoud,  at  last  convinced  that  his  own  forces 
were  unable  to  cope  with  the  insurrection,  had 
bent  his  pride  to  ask  help  of  his  powerful  vassal 
Mehemet  Ali  of  Egypt,  who  placed  at  his  disposal 
an  army  and  a  fleet  disciplined  on  the  European 
model.  In  February,  1825,  Ibrahim  Pasha  landed 
with  a  considerable  force  in  the  Morea  ;  the  Greek 
guerilla  warriors,  unaccustomed  to  face  regular 
troops,  were  everywhere  scattered ;  and  it  seemed 
as  though  the  Egyptian  conqueror  would  soon 
be  free  to  carry  out  the  plan  attributed  to  him 
of  rooting  out  the  whole  Christian  population  of 
Greece,  and  resettling  the  country  with  Moham- 
medan negroes  and  fellaheen.  It  was  under  these 
circumstances  that  Canning  decided  to  reopen 
negotiations  with  the  Russian  Government  ;  and, 
in  the  summer  of  1825,  his  cousin,  Stratford 
Canning,  the  newly  appointed  ambassador  to  St. 
Petersburg,  was  authorised  to  propose  to  the  Tsar 
a  joint  intervention  of  the  Powers,  still,  however, 
with  the  old  stipulation  that  Turkey  should  not  be 


156  GEORGE  CANNING 

coerced.  Russia,  however,  showed  no  disposition  to 
favour  an  intervention  which,  in  the  absence  of 
force,  would  be  without  effect.  On  18th  August, 
in  fact,  Alexander  announced  that  he  intended 
to  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands,  and  started 
for  the  south  of  Russia,  where  an  immense  army 
had  been  concentrated.  Canning  believed  that, 
"in  a  temper  of  gloomy  abstraction,"  and  de- 
ceived by  Metternich,  the  Tsar  had  resolved  on 
war  ;  and  the  fear  that  Russia  was  about  to  act 
alone  forced  him  on.  He  now  opened  negotiations 
with  Prince  Lieven,  the  Russian  ambassador  in 
England,  on  the  basis  of  a  separate  understanding 
between  Great  Britain  and  Russia.  The  "  dis- 
loyalty "  of  Austria,  the  unreliability  of  France,  the 
insignificance  of  Prussia,  he  urged,  made  them  un- 
desirable allies  ;  but  for  an  understanding  between 
Russia  and  England  "  the  doors  were  open  ".  "  The 
time  has  come  to  act,"  wrote  Lieven;  "M.  Canning 
and  I  are  on  the  path  of  confidences." 

The  unexpected  death  of  Alexander  I.  in 
December,  1825,  interrupted  the  negotiations, 
and  at  the  same  time  intensified  the  strain  of 
the  situation.  In  place  of  the  imperial  dreamer, 
worn  out  before  his  time,  there  was  now  seated 
on  the  throne  of  Russia  a  young,  vigorous  and 
ambitious  autocrat,  inspired  with  an  overwhelming 
sense  of  his  divine  mission  as  the  ruler  and  repre- 
sentative of  Holy  Russia,  and  endowed  by  nature 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  157 

with  an  iron  will.  A  great  army,  which  it  needed 
only  his  word  to  set  in  motion  over  the  frontiers, 
was  concentrated  in  the  South  ;  and,  as  an  ad- 
ditional inducement  to  him  to  declare  war,  the 
military  rising  at  Moscow,  which  it  had  been  the 
first  act  of  his  reign  to  suppress,  pointed  to  the  ex- 
pediency of  restoring  the  morale  of  the  troops  by 
employing  them  abroad.  To  preserve  the  Ottoman 
Empire  from  what  seemed  imminent  downfall,  Can- 
ning determined  to  renew,  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  the  negotiations,  which  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  the  death  of  Alexander,  with  a  view 
to  arriving  at  a  "confidential  concert"  between  the 
two  Governments,  and  thus  to  forestall  any  isolated 
action  of  Russia.  One  of  the  obstacles  to  this 
course  no  longer  existed.  He  had  refused  to 
share  in  the  Conference  of  St.  Petersburg  partly 
because  the  Greek  insurgents  had  refused  to  be 
bound  by  its  decisions.  But,  meanwhile,  Ibrahim's 
discipline  had  reduced  them  to  a  more  chastened 
mood.  In  a  conference  between  the  Greek  leaders 
and  Stratford  Canning,  held  in  January,  1826,  in 
the  island  of  Perivolakia,  the  former  had  agreed 
to  accept  a  settlement  based  on  the  earlier  pro- 
posals of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  Canning  had 
by  no  means  modified  his  objections  to  confer- 
ences ;  but  the  situation  seemed  now  ripe  for  a 
business-like  discussion  between  the  two  parties 
most  directly  interested,  and  he  now  proposed  to 


158  GEORGE  CANNING 

Prince  Lieven  that  the  two  Powers  most  intimately 
concerned,  Russia  and  Great  Britain,  should  open 
negotiations  with  a  view  to  their  joint  intervention 
in  the  Greek  question  upon  a  new  basis. 

In  February,  1826,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
sent  as  special  envoy  to  St.  Petersburg,  to  con- 
gratulate the  Emperor  on  his  accession  and  to 
endeavour  to  arrange  with  him  some  basis  of 
joint  action  in  the  East.  The  mission,  and  still 
more  the  agent  to  whom  it  was  entrusted,  marked 
how  greatly,  in  Canning's  view,  the  situation  in 
Europe  had  altered.  "  The  Duke  of  Wellington," 
he  wrote  to  Lord  Granville,  "  would  not  have  done 
for  any  purpose  of  mine  a  twelvemonth  ago.  No 
more  would  confidence  in  Russia.  But  now — the 
ultra  system  being  dissolved,  by  the  carrying  of 
every  point  which  they  opposed— the  elements  of 
that  system  have  become  usable  for  good  pur- 
poses. I  hope  to  save  Greece  through  the  agency 
of  the  Russian  name  upon  the  fears  of  Turkey,  with- 
out a  war." 

The  outcome  of  Wellington's  mission  was  the 
signature  by  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  on  4th 
April,  of  the  Protocol  of  St.  Petersburg,  by  which 
England  was  empowered  to  offer  to  the  Porte  a 
settlement  of  the  Greek  question,  based  on  the 
terms  agreed  upon  at  Perivolakia,  Russia  promising 
her  co-operation  "  in  any  case  ".  By  Article  III. 
of  the  protocol  it  was  agreed  that,  in  the  event  of 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  159 

the  Ottoman  Government  rejecting  the  proffered 
mediation,  the  signatory  States  should  take  the 
earliest  opportunity,  either  separately  or  in  com- 
mon, of  establishing  a  reconciliation  on  the  basis 
of  the  protocol. 

The  "confidential  concert"  established  by  this  in- 
strument was  from  the  first  of  a  somewhat  delicate 
constitution.  Both  Wellington  and  Canning  had 
been  puzzled,  during  the  negotiations,  by  the 
attitude  of  the  Tsar,  divided  as  he  was  between 
hatred  of  Turkey  and  conscientious  dislike  of 
"rebels".  Their  remonstrances  had  not  suc- 
ceeded in  preventing  the  Russian  Government 
from  despatching  an  ultimatum  to  the  Porte  on 
its  own  account  while  Wellington  was  still  at  St. 
Petersburg  ;  and,  in  view  of  this,  the  intrusion  of 
fresh  demands  under  the  protocol,  while  the  Porte 
was  still  considering  those  already  laid  before  it, 
increased,  instead  of  diminishing,  the  risks  of  war. 
War,  indeed,  did  not  result  ;  for  Sultan  Mahmoud, 
though  very  much  in  the  mood,  was  not  in  a  posi- 
tion, to  fight.  On  7th  October,  by  the  Convention 
of  Akkermann,  the  specific  grievances  of  Russia 
were  redressed,  and  diplomatic  relations  were  once 
more  resumed  between  Tsar  and  Sultan.  But 
meanwhile  Russia  and  England  had  relapsed  into 
a  mood  of  mutual  suspicion.  Russia  commented 
on  the  fact  that  Great  Britain  seemed  in  no  hurry 
to  give  effect  to  the  protocol  of  4th  April ;  Great 


160  GEORGE  CANNING 

Britain  complained  that  Russia  had  tried  to  force 
her  hand  by  a  premature  revelation  of  its  contents 
to  the  other  Powers.     Canning,  in  fact,  wished  to 
keep  the  protocol  in  reserve,  in   case   the  Porte 
were  finally  to  reject  the  separate   mediation  of 
England  ;  and    Russia  began  to  suspect   that  his 
object  throughout  had  been  no  more  than  to  post- 
pone the  evil  day  of  a  Russian  armed  intervention. 
In  July  Prince  Lieven  was  instructed  to  press  the 
British  Government  as  to  its  intentions,  in  view  of 
the  notorious  intention  of  Ibrahim  to  depopulate 
the    Morea,   and   the   necessity   for   taking   some 
action.      The   response   seemed   in   some   sort   to 
justify  the  Russian  suspicions.     Wellington  denied 
that  the  intention  to  depopulate  the   Morea  had 
been  proved ;  he  declared  that  the  object  of  the 
protocol  was  purely  "  pacific,"  aiming  at  most  at 
an  eventual  intervention  of  a  concert  of  the  Powers, 
and  that  Great  Britain  had  consistently  resisted  the 
idea  of  forcing  a  mediation  upon  the  Porte.     If  this 
was  to  be  the  final  word  of  the  British  Government, 
the  protocol  seemed  to  Russia  not  worth  the  paper 
on  which  it  was  written.     She  had  learned,  from 
long  experience   of  orientals,   the  exact  value  of 
"  pacific  "  protests  against  Ottoman  policy. 

Before  long,  however,  the  situation  was  once 
more  sensibly  modified.  Of  the  other  European 
Powers  Austria  and  Prussia  were,  indeed,  still 
obdurately  averse  from  any  interference  in  aid  of 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  l6l 

rebels  against  legitimate  authority ;  but  Charles  X. 
of  France  at  length  allowed  his  religious  feel- 
ings to  overcome  his  horror  of  revolution,  and 
declared  himself  ready  to  join  in  any  measures 
for  succouring  the  oppressed  Christians  of  the 
East.  More  important  still,  the  Greeks  in  their 
despair  had  at  last  made  a  formal  appeal  to  Great 
Britain  for  her  mediation.  Canning  now  felt  that 
he  could  consistently  and  safely  take  a  further  step 
towards  the  solution  of  the  question.  England,  in 
his  opinion,  could  now  intervene,  because  "  inter- 
vention had  been  asked  for  by  one  of  the  parties  ; 
and  did  not  grow  out  of  the  self-constituted  right 
of  any  Power,  or  combination  of  Powers,  to  dictate 
to  both  of  the  belligerent  parties  ".  On  4th  Sep- 
tember, 1826,  then,  he  addressed  a  note  to  the 
Russian  Government  in  which  he  declared  that 
"  the  sentiments  of  humanity  and  the  interests  of 
commerce  "  should  lead  the  two  Powers  to  insist 
on  the  Sultan's  accepting  their  mediation  ;  that  the 
united  force  of  Great  Britain  and  Russia  should  be 
used  to  persuade  the  Porte  to  accept  the  terms  of 
the  Protocol  of  St.  Petersburg ;  and  that,  in  the 
event  of  its  refusing  to  do  so,  the  two  Powers 
should  withdraw  their  representatives  from  Con- 
stantinople, establish  consulates  in  Greece,  and 
perhaps  go  so  far  as  to  recognise  the  independence 
of  the  Morea  and  the  Greek  islands.  These  sug- 
gestions the  Tsar  declared  himself  in  general  pre~ 
11 


162  GEORGE  CANNING 

pared  to  accept  as  a  basis  of  common  action.  He 
proposed,  however,  that,  instead  of  at  once  break- 
ing off  diplomatic  relations,  an  armistice  should  be 
insisted  on,  in  order  to  save  the  Greeks  from 
destruction,  and  that,  in  the  event  of  this  being 
refused,  the  ambassadors  of  the  Powers  should 
be  withdrawn  from  Constantinople.  Prince  Lieven 
was  at  the  same  time  directed  to  point  out  to  Can- 
ning that  the  best  way  of  enforcing  the  armistice 
was  that  suggested  by  himself,  namely,  to  isolate 
Ibrahim  in  the  Morea  by  cutting  him  off  from 
his  base  of  supplies  in  Egypt.  This  could  be 
done  by  a  reunion  of  the  fleets  of  all  the  Powers 
sharing  in  the  pacification  of  Greece. 

Early  in  1827  conferences  were  opened  at  Lon- 
don with  the  object  of  securing  some  sort  of  work- 
ing agreement  between  all  the  Powers  interested 
in  the  Eastern  question.  But  their  sole  effect  was 
once  more  to  emphasise  the  irreconcilable  differ- 
ences within  the  Alliance.  Austria  and  Prussia 
protested  against  the  proposed  intervention  "  to 
serve  revolutionary  ends,"  and  withdrew ;  and 
France  thereupon  proposed  that  the  protocol 
should  be  converted  into  a  formal  treaty.  To 
this  Russia  agreed,  on  condition  that  the  ultimate 
appeal  should  be  to  force.  "We  are  invited," 
wrote  Count  Nesselrode,  "to  sanction  a  principle. 
We  invite  to  the  recognition  of  its  consequences." 
Canning  had  already  discussed  this  question  with 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  163 

Baron  de  Damas  during  his  visit  to  Paris  in  October, 
1826.  At  that  time  he  was  prepared  so  far  to 
humour  the  desire  of  the  French  Government  for 
some  initiative  in  the  counsels  of  the  concert,  as  to 
consent  of  the  protocol  being  made  into  a  treaty ; 
but  when  the  French  Minister  proceeded  to  sug- 
gest that  its  terms  should  be  forced,  if  necessary, 
upon  the  Porte,  he  had  replied  that  such  a  pro- 
posal, "  if  adopted,  must  not  be  laid  down  be- 
forehand, but  grow  out  of  the  measures  now  in 
hand  ".  Since  this  conversation  nothing  had  oc- 
curred to  change  his  opinion  as  to  the  coercion  of 
Turkey ;  in  reply  to  Count  Nesselrode  he  objected 
to  making  the  rejection  of  the  proffered  media- 
tion by  the  Porte  a  "  casus  belli "  ;  and  it  was  only 
after  the  irreconcilable  attitude  of  the  Ottoman 
Government  towards  what  it  denounced  as  an 
impertinent  interference  with  its  domestic  con- 
cerns had  once  more  been  made  plain,  that  he 
realised  the  necessity  for  using  coercive  measures, 
if  only  to  prevent  isolated  action  on  the  part  of 
Russia.  On  6th  July,  1827,  accordingly,  the 
Protocol  of  St.  Petersburg  was  converted  into  the 
Treaty  of  London.  By  this  instrument,  which 
Austria  and  Prussia  refused  to  sign,  the  three 
signatory  Powers  bound  themselves  to  secure  the 
autonomy  of  Greece  under  the  suzerainty  of  the 
Sultan,  but  without  breaking  off  friendly  relations 
with  the  Porte,  The  most  immediately  important 


164  GEORGE  CANNING 

part  of  the  treaty  was  the  secret  article  by  which 
it  was  agreed  that  an  armistice  should  be  proposed 
to  both  parties,  and  that  this  should  be  enforced 
by  any  means  that  might  "suggest  themselves  to 
the  High  Contracting  Parties  ".  In  this  respect  a 
wide  discretion  was  left  to  the  admirals  command- 
ing the  allied  fleets  in  Levantine  waters  ;  but,  since 
it  was  not  for  a  moment  supposed  that  the  Greeks 
would  reject  the  armistice,  it  was  suggested  that 
in  general  the  best  way  to  bring  Ibrahim  to  terms 
would  be  by  a  "  pacific  "  blockade  of  the  coasts  of 
Greece. 

The  signature  of  the  Treaty  of  London  was  Can- 
ning's last  political  act ;  and  he  did  not  live  to 
witness  even  its  immediate  results.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  these  would  have  been  essen- 
tially more  welcome  to  him  than  they  were  to  his 
successor,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  had  pro- 
tested against  the  whole  policy  of  which  they 
were  the  outcome.  The  "pacific"  blockade  cul- 
minated rapidly  in  the  destruction  of  the  Ottoman 
sea-power  at  Navarino ;  the  Turks,  angered  by  so 
huge  an  outrage  in  time  of  peace,  proclaimed  a 
holy  war ;  and  there  followed  the  very  invasion 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire  by  Russia  which  it  had 
been  the  main  object  of  Canning's  policy  to 
prevent.  It  is  idle  to  speculate  as  to  how  far 
Canning  would  have  been  able  to  modify  the 
actual  course  of  events,  had  he  lived.  His  aim 


THE  WAR  OF  GREEK  INDEPENDENCE  165 

had  been,  firstly,  to  compose  the  differences  be- 
tween Russia  and  Turkey,  so  as  to  avoid  war ; 
secondly,  to  secure  a  settlement  of  the  Greek 
question  so  as  to  protect  Greece,  without  weaken- 
ing the  Ottoman  Empire.  Neither  of  these  objects 
were,  in  the  long  run,  attained.  The  Russian 
invasion  of  Turkey  ended  in  the  temporary  efface- 
ment  of  the  Ottoman  power  as  a  barrier  against 
Muscovite  aggression ;  and  the  erection  of  Greece 
into  an  independent  kingdom,  which  followed, 
was  a  fresh  stage  in  the  break-up  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  the  integrity  of  which  it  had  been  a 
cardinal  article  of  Canning's  creed  to  maintain. 


CHAPTER   X 

PREMIERSHIP    AND    DEATH 

Split  in  the  Tory  Cabinet— The  Free  Trade  party— The 
"  Reciprocity  of  Duties  Act " — Canning's  rhymed  de- 
spatch— -Illness  of  Lord  Liverpool — Canning's  motion 
on  the  Corn  Laws — Canning  at  the  head  of  a  Coalition 
Government — Illness  and  death. 

IT  was  in  the  diplomatic  battle  of  wits  on  the 
field  of  European  politics  that  Canning's 
genius  was  most  conspicuously  illustrated ;  and 
it  was  here  that  he  was  always  most  ambitious  of 
gaining  distinction.  During  the  years  of  his  tenure 
of  the  Foreign  Office,  then,  he  had  been  mainly 
absorbed  in  his  task  of  restoring  to  Great  Britain 
that  leading  influence  in  the  councils  of  Europe 
which  he  believed  to  have  been  compromised  by 
the  undue  partiality  of  his  predecessor  for  the 
system  of  the  "Holy  Alliance".  How  he  achieved 
this  task,  in  the  working  out  of  the  great  problems 
connected  with  the  Spanish  peninsula  and  the 
revolt  of  the  Greeks  against  the  Ottoman  rule, 
has  been  described  in  the  two  last  chapters.  Can- 
ning himself  had  no  misgivings  as  to  the  result 

(166) 


GEORGE   CANNING 
From  ail  engraving  by  Turner  after  the  portrait  by  Lawrence 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH         16? 

of  his  labours.  To  the  King,  afraid  lest  "the 
restless  desire  of  self-interest "  displayed  in  the 
new  British  policy  should  lose  him  his  status 
among  the  Powers  of  the  continent,  he  pointed 
out  convincingly  that,  so  far  from  his  policy  having 
produced  any  such  result,  it  had  in  reality  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  Europe  instead  of  at  the  tail. 
To  a  large  section  of  the  Tory  party,  however,  of 
which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  the  most 
distinguished  representative,  the  Liberal  tendency 
of  Canning's  foreign  policy  was  increasingly  dis- 
tasteful ;  and  this  heightened  the  dislike  which 
they  already  felt  for  him  in  consequence  of  his 
attitude  towards  some  of  the  more  burning  ques- 
tions at  home. 

The  general  attitude  of  Canning  towards  the 
great  problems  of  domestic  politics  in  his  day 
has  already  been  described.  To  the  end  it  pre- 
sented the  same  apparent  contradictions  and  incon- 
sistencies, setting  him  as  it  were  half-way  between 
the  opposing  political  camps,  ready  to  throw  his 
weight  on  to  the  one  side  or  the  other,  as  the 
needs  of  the  moment  dictated.  On  two  important 
questions  only  did  he  remain  to  the  last  consist- 
ently Tory :  in  his  opposition  to  parliamentary 
reform,  and  to  the  repeal  of  the  Test  Acts,  he 
never  wavered.  But,  while  maintaining  through- 
out the  sufficiency  of  the  actual  Constitution  for 
all  the  needs  of  the  nation,  he  was  persuaded 


168  GEORGE  CANNING 

that  it  could  be  used,  and  ought  to  be  used,  for 
the  purpose  of  passing  "  the  mildest  and  most 
liberal  legislation ".  And  to  those  who  had  eyes 
to  see  and  ears  to  hear  the  direction  which  such 
legislation  should  take  was  sufficiently  obvious. 
Man  is  not,  in  spite  of  Aristotle,  primarily  a  politi- 
cal animal ;  and  so  long  as  his  belly  is  full  he  is  not 
generally  greatly  concerned  with  the  form  of  the 
institutions  under  which  he  thrives.  Canning  saw 
that  the  revolutionary  agitation  in  the  country  was 
mainly  the  outcome  of  intolerable  economic  con- 
ditions ;  of  the  artificial  dearness  of  food  stuffs,  and 
generally  of  the  antiquated  restrictions,  inherited 
from  a  less  expansive  age,  which  everywhere  ham- 
pered the  free  development  of  British  trade  and 
industry.  The  Reformers  held  that  a  radical 
political  change  was  the  necessary  preliminary  to 
any  economic  improvement.  Canning  believed  that 
the  unreformed  Parliament  would  do  all  that  was 
necessary,  if  it  were  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
doing  it. 

In  1823  Vansittart,  whose  reckless  finance  had 
been  largely  responsible  for  the  misery  of  the 
country,  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord  Bexley. 
His  place  at  the  Exchequer  was  taken  by  Robin- 
son ;  and  the  vacancy  in  the  Presidency  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  thus  created  was  filled,  at  Can- 
ning's instance,  by  his  friend  Huskisson.  This 
was  a  fresh  infusion  of  Liberal  leaven  into  the 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH          169 

Government ;  for,  though  Huskisson  was  politi- 
cally a  Tory,  he  was  a  man  of  singularly  enlight- 
ened economic  views,  a  supporter  of  free  trade — 
not  yet  become  a  party  question — and  courageous 
in  carrying  through  his  measures  in  the  face  of 
opposition.  For  a  complete  policy  of  free  trade, 
indeed,  the  country  was  not  yet  ripe  ;  but  a  good 
deal  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  removing  restric 
tions  here  and  there,  and  Canning  supported  all 
Huskisson's  proposals  directed  to  this  end.  Of 
these  the  most  important  was  the  "  Reciprocity  of 
Duties  Act,"  introduced  by  Huskisson  on  6th 
June,  1823.  By  the  terms  of  the  old  Navigation 
Act,  passed  in  Cromwell's  time  and  completed  in 
the  days  of  Charles  II.,  goods  from  Asia,  America 
and  Africa  were  only  allowed  to  be  imported  into 
Great  Britain  in  British  vessels,  while  European 
produce  had  to  be  brought,  either  in  English  ships, 
or  in  those  of  the  country  of  origin.  This  had,  of 
course,  led  to  reprisals  and,  consequently,  to  an  enor- 
mous waste  of  money  and  energy  by  all  concerned. 
The  restrictions  had  been  removed  in  the  case 
of  American  vessels  by  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  in 
1814.  Huskisson  now  proposed  to  put  the  ships  of 
British  and  foreign  Powers  upon  an  equal  footing, 
while  maintaining  the  right  to  place  restrictive 
dues  upon  the  ships  of  nations  which  should  reject 
the  reciprocal  rights  thus  offered. 

A  minor  outcome  of  the  "  Reciprocity  of  Duties 


170  GEORGE  CANNING 

Act "  was  perhaps  the  most  famous,  as  it  certainly 
is  the  most  amusing,  of  Canning's  despatches.  In 
1826  the  Dutch  Minister,  Mr.  Falck,  in  the 
course  of  negotiations  growing  out  of  the  Act, 
proposed  to  Sir  Charles  Bagot  an  exceedingly 
one-sided  arrangement  for  the  admission  of  British 
ships  to  Dutch  ports,  which  the  British  Minister 
duly  forwarded  home,  with  a  request  for  instruc- 
tions. By  return,  enclosed  in  an  official  envelope, 
and  signed  by  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
he  received  the  following  verses : — 

In  matters  of  commerce  the  fault  of  the  Dutch 
Is  giving  too  little  and  asking  too  much. 
With  equal  advantage  the  French  are  content, 
So  we'll  clap  on  Dutch  bottoms  a  twenty  per  cent. 

Twenty  per  cent. , 

Twenty  per  cent., 
Nous  frapperons  Falck  with  twenty  per  cent. , 

which  was  done,  with  excellent  results. 

Huskisson's  free  trade  policy,  the  modification 
of  the  Corn  Laws,  Catholic  emancipation,  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery — all  of  which  Can- 
ning supported — had  violent  enemies,  not  only  in 
the  Tory  party  at  large,  but  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Cabinet  itself.  On  all  these  questions  the  Govern- 
ment could  reckon  on  the  support  of  the  Whigs, 
but  not  on  that  of  its  own  followers ;  until  Pal- 
merston,  himself  a  member  of  the  Ministry,  could 
declare  that  the  genuine  Opposition  in  Parliament 
was  not  facing,  but  behind,  the  Treasury  bench. 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH          171 

By  the  beginning  of  1827,  indeed,  it  was  clear 
that  the  Government  was  only  held  together  by 
the  influence  and  tact  of  Lord  Liverpool  ;  and 
when,  on  *l7th  February,  he  was  seized  with  an 
apoplectic  fit  which  compelled  him  to  withdraw 
from  public  affairs,  it  was  obvious  that  a  crisis 
was  inevitable. 

The  illness  of  Liverpool  was,  both  personally 
and  politically,  a  severe  blow  to  Canning.  They 
had  been  friends  ever  since  their  college  days  ; 
and,  in  spite  of  differences  of  opinion — notably  on 
the  Catholic  question — there  had  always  been 
preserved  between  them  the  confidence  born  of 
mutual  regard  and  affection.  It  was  Liverpool's 
consistent  support  of  him  that  had  alone  made 
Canning's  position  in  the  Cabinet  tolerable  ;  and 
with  his  retirement  a  crisis  in  the  Government 
was  inevitable.  Canning,  who  was  himself  suffer- 
ing from  the  painful  illness  which  was  to  prove 
fatal,  took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  persuading 
the  King  to  leave  the  rearrangement  of  the 
Government  open  until  all  chance  of  Liverpool's 
recovery  should  be  past.  George  IV.  was  only  too 
willing  to  postpone  the  settlement  of  a  troublesome 
question ;  and  during  the  interregnum  that  followed 
the  divisions  of  opinion  within  the  Cabinet  became 
still  more  violently  accentuated.  The  climax  was 
reached  with  the  introduction  by  Canning,  on  15th 
March,  of  a  motion  for  the  relaxation  of  the  Corn 


172  GEORGE  CANNING 

Laws.  The  measure  was,  in  his  opinion,  absolutely 
called  for  by  the  breakdown  of  the  existing  system, 
by  the  accidental  working  of  which  "  the  ports  had 
been  shut  when  the  home  supply  was  deficient,  and 
opened  when  the  home  market  was  glutted";  the 
general  result  being  at  once  the  ruin  of  the  agri- 
cultural interest  and  the  starvation  of  the  people. 
He  now  proposed  a  sliding  scale  of  duties  on  im- 
ported corn,  so  arranged  as  to  maintain  the  average 
price  at  sixty  shillings  the  quarter.  The  eloquent 
and  closely  reasoned  speech  in  which  he  presented 
his  case  to  the  House  of  Commons  sufficed  to  over- 
come the  prejudices  of  the  Tory  majority,  and 
the  motion  was  triumphantly  carried.  But  when 
the  bill  embodying  it  was  sent  up  to  the  House  of 
Lords  it  met  with  a  very  different  reception.  The 
opposition  to  it  was  led  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
Canning's  colleague  in  the  Cabinet,  and  under  his 
auspices  it  was  so  "  knocked  about  "  that  Canning 
preferred  to  withdraw  it. 

In  momentary  anger  at  conduct  so  insensate  in 
view  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  country,  Can- 
ning forgot  his  lifelong  belief  in  the  "reason" 
which  he  had  stoutly  maintained  to  be  the  ruling 
characteristic  of  Parliament ;  and  warned  the  peers 
of  the  danger  of  hurrying  on  that  struggle  between 
"the  people  and  property"  which  he  saw  to  be 
impending.  In  any  case  the  episode  made  all 
question  of  the  preservation  of  the  existing  Cabinet 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH          173 

under  a  new  head,  which  was  the  solution  desired 
by  the  King,  impossible,  quite  apart  from  the  Catho- 
lic question,  on  which  opinions  were  equally  sharply 
divided,  and  which,  in  view  of  the  formation  of  the 
Catholic  Association  and  the  alarming  developments 
in  Ireland,  equally  clamoured  for  solution. 

When  it  became  obvious  that  Lord  Liverpool 
would  never  be  able  to  resume  the  reins  of  power, 
Canning  suggested  to  the  King  that,  considering 
his  Majesty's  own  Protestant  prejudices  and  the 
general  feeling  of  the  constituencies,  the  interests 
of  the  country  would  be  best  served  by  excluding 
him  from  the  Government  and  forming  a  purely 
anti-Catholic  Ministry.  The  King's  religious  zeal, 
however,  was  not  so  potent  a  quantity  as  his  sense 
of  personal  importance  ;  and  this  latter  was  of- 
fended by  the  attitude  of  the  Tory  peers.  Wel- 
lington, while  recommending  the  re-establishment 
of  a  Government  committed  neither  way  on  the 
Catholic  question,  refused  point-blank  to  serve 
under  Canning  ;  and  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
claiming  his  privilege  as  a  peer,  had  pressed  into 
the  royal  presence  in  order  to  protest  against  the 
appointment  of  Canning,  and  to  threaten  to  with- 
draw the  support  of  his  following  in  the  event 
of  his  being  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Government. 
This  was  more  than  the  pride  of  the  King  could 
endure ;  he  was  personally  no  longer  indisposed 
towards  Canning,  who  had  persuaded  him  that 


174  GEORGE  CANNING 

his  foreign  policy,  so  far  from  diminishing,  had 
increased  his  prestige  in  Europe ;  and  on  10th 
April  he  handed  him  the  seals  of  office.  The 
members  of  the  Tory  "  cabal "  in  the  Cabinet — 
Lord  Chancellor  Eldon,  Wellington,  Westmorland, 
Melville,  Bathurst,  Bexley  and  Peel — at  once  re- 
signed. Their  places  were  filled  up  by  accessions 
from  the  Whig  ranks,  on  the  understanding  that 
the  questions  of  parliamentary  reform  and  of  the 
Test  Acts  were  not  to  be  raised.  Canning  himself 
combined  the  Chancellorship  of  the  Exchequer 
with  the  Premiership,  handing  over  the  Foreign 
Office  to  Lord  Dudley.  Of  the  other  Ministers 
the  most  notable  were  Huskisson,  who  resumed 
his  place  at  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  who  became  Secretary  at  War. 

Canning  had  thus,  at  last,  attained  the  summit 
of  his  ambition ;  but  he  was  not  destined  to  enjoy 
it  long.  What  a  Ministry  combined  of  such  healthy 
elements  would  have  done  for  the  benefit  of  the 
country,  had  it  survived,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
The  few  weeks  of  its  existence  were  not  sufficient 
to  test  its  quality.  Its  most  important  work  was 
the  advancement  of  the  settlement  of  the  Eastern 
question,  which  had  already  been  discussed.  In 
home  affairs  the  Corn  Amendment  Bill  was  re- 
introduced,  and  this  time  passed  through  both 
Houses.  Canning,  on  this  occasion,  only  spoke 
very  shortly  to  explain  that  the  bill  had  been 


A    HEAD    FOR   THE   CABINET 
From  a  caricature  published  April,  /&/ 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH          175 

originated  and  worked  out,  not  by  himself,  but  by 
Lord  Liverpool.  On  1st  June,  as  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  Canning  introduced  the  budget 
in  the  last  great  speech  he  was  destined  to  address 
to  the  House  of  Commons.  On  the  29th  he  spoke 
for  the  last  time  in  Parliament :  a  few  remarks  in 
answer  to  a  question.  When,  on  2nd  July, 
Parliament  was  prorogued,  Canning  was  already 
dying. 

His  fatal  illness  was  traced  to  a  cold  caught 
while  attending  the  funeral  of  the  Duke  of  York, 
the  heir  to  the  throne.  The  duke's  death  had 
taken  place  on  29th  January,  and  he  was  buried 
at  night  in  St.  George's  Chapel  at  Windsor.  By 
some  mismanagement  the  funeral  cortege  was  two 
hours  late ;  and  the  official  mourners,  Canning 
among  them,  were  kept  standing  all  this  time  in 
a  bitterly  cold  passage,  over  the  damp  stones  of 
which  not  even  a  mat  had  been  laid.  Stapleton 
tells,  as  an  illustration  of  Canning's  personal 
kindliness,  how  he  persuaded  Lord  Eldon,  who  he 
saw  was  suffering  from  the  cold,  to  stand  upon 
his  cocked  hat,  so  as  to  prevent  the  damp  from 
the  stones  striking  up  through  his  thin  shoes. 
He  himself  took  no  such  precaution,  with  the 
result  that  he  contracted  a  severe  chill,  from  the 
effects  of  which  he  never  recovered.  Until  the 
rising  of  Parliament,  the  necessity  of  attending  to 
business  had  sustained  him,  though  he  was  already 


176  GEORGE  CANNING 

suffering  much  pain ;  but  the  immediate  compul- 
sion of  affairs  removed,  the  indomitable  spirit  was 
at  last  conquered,  and  he  accepted  the  offer  of 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire  to  retire  for  rest  and 
recuperation  to  his  house  near  Chiswick.  Here, 
on  8th  August,  in  the  same  room  where,  a  few 
years  before,  Fox  had  died,  he  breathed  his  last. 
His  eldest  son  had  predeceased  him  on  31st 
March,  1 820 ;  his  second  son,  William  Pitt,  was 
not  destined  long  to  survive  him,  being  drowned 
at  sea  on  25th  September,  1828.  It  was  reserved 
for  the  third  son,  Charles  John,  to  carry  on,  as 
Governor-General  of  India  during  the  Mutiny  and 
first  Viceroy,  the  tradition  of  a  name  which  his 
father  had  made  illustrious. 

In  the  presence  of  death  the  voice  of  criticism, 
which  had  raged  so  bitterly  round  Canning  in  life, 
was  hushed,  and  men  of  all  parties  and  shades  of 
opinion  united  in  praise  of  the  large  qualities  of 
the  great  Englishman  so  prematurely  lost  to  his 
country.  In  January,  1828,  the  King  gave  expres- 
sion to  the  sentiment  which  he  now  shared  with 
the  whole  country,  by  conferring  a  peerage  on 
Mrs.  Canning.  The  feelings  of  the  people  had 
been  more  eloquently  expressed  by  the  huge 
crowds  that  assembled  at  Westminster  on  the  day 
of  his  burial.  Looking  back,  after  the  lapse  of 
three-quarters  of  a  century,  we  cannot  altogether 
join  in  the  unmeasured  chorus  of  praise  that  went 


177 

up  from  his  admirers  over  his  grave.  That  he  did 
a  great  and  necessary  work  for  England  is  true 
enough.  His  career  was  coincident  with  the 
period  during  which  the  immemorial  Constitu- 
tion of  England  was  on  its  trial;  when  it  was  yet 
doubtful  whether  it  would  prove  elastic  enough 
to  expand  with  the  expanding  age.  His  position, 
half-way  between  the  old  and  the  new,  served  to 
break  the  violence  of  the  impact  of  the  colliding 
political  forces ;  and  the  very  strenuousness  and 
obvious  honesty  of  his  opposition  to  any  change  in 
the  constitutional  balance  made  it  easier  for  him 
to  obtain  a  hearing  when,  in  the  unreformed  Par- 
liament, he  raised  his  voice  in  favour  of  changes 
which  foreshadowed  the  coming  times.  Yet  what 
has  been  said  of  Metternich  seems  to  be  true  also 
of  him  :  that  he  was  less  skilful  in  discerning  the 
direction  and  force  of  the  great  undercurrent  of 
human  affairs,  than  in  dealing  with  those  phe- 
nomena which  from  time  to  time  appeared  on  the 
surface.  His  great  speeches  on  Reform,  so  impres- 
sive when  delivered,  form  curious  reading  now. 
The  "will  of  the  people"  has  long  been  expressed 
in  Parliament ;  yet  who  will  say  that  Edward  VII. 
is  less  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  than  George  IV.? 
Or  who  will  affirm  that  the  House  of  Lords  is  im- 
potent to  stem  the  violent  onrush  of  democratic 
legislation  ?  So,  too,  perhaps  in  his  conduct  of 
those  foreign  affairs  which  were  his  especial 
12 


178  GEORGE  CANNING 

interest  and  delight.  He  claimed  to  have  found 
Great  Britain  occupying  the  fifth  place  in  a  Con- 
federation of  Powers,  and  to  have  left  her  the 
arbitress  of  the  destinies  of  Europe.  He  certainly 
made  the  influence  of  England  very  effectively  felt 
in  the  great  questions  of  the  hour ;  but  did  he 
see  beyond  these  to  the  great  issues  of  the  future  ? 
The  Grand  Alliance  had  been  established  in  the 
interests  of  peace ;  Canning  proclaimed  that  the 
interests  of  peace  would  be  best  served  by  studying 
the  rights  of  nationalities.  Yet  the  clamour 
of  nationalities  for  their  rights  has  been  since, 
and  will  yet  be,  the  most  fruitful  cause  of  blood- 
shed ;  and  in  our  own  day,  as  the  direct  out- 
come of  the  principle  which  Canning  championed, 
we  have  the  nations  of  Europe  weighed  down 
under  the  crushing  burden  of  an  "armed  peace" 
almost  as  intolerable  as  war. 

Yet  in  whatever  degree  we  may  feel  disposed 
to  modify  the  eulogies  poured  upon  him  by  his 
admirers  who,  living  closer  to  him,  were  dazzled 
by  his  genius,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  Canning 
was,  in  his  day  and  generation,  great.  His  noble 
presence,  his  masterful  will,  his  abounding  elo- 
quence and  wit,  marked  him  out  as  a  ruler  of 
men ;  and  if  he  was  ambitious,  his  ambition  was 
certainly  not  that  desire  "to  be  the  only  figure 
among  cyphers"  which,  according  to  Bacon,  is 
"the  decay  of  an  age ".  His  ambition  was,  as 


PREMIERSHIP  AND  DEATH          179 

he  once  put  it,  "to  advance  through  character  to 
power";  he  loved  a  fight  and  a  rival  worthy  of  his 
steel ;  and,  as  Bacon  says  again,  "He  that  seeketh 
to  be  eminent  amongst  able  men,  hath  a  great 
task,  but  that  is  ever  good  for  the  public". 


INDEX 


Addington,  Henry  (first  Viscount  Burdett,  Sir    Francis,  and|  Can- 

Sidmouth),   succeeds  Pitt,  49 ;  ning,  104,  105. 

and   the   Slave  Trade,  54 ;  re-  Burke,  Edmund,  16. 

signs,  58  ;  Canning  and,  49,  54.  Burrard,  Sir  Harry,  75. 
Akkermann,  Convention  of,  159. 
Alexander  I.,  Emperor  of  Russia, 

24;  Treaty  of  Tilsit,   66;  and 

the  European  "  Confederation,"  Campo  Formio,  Treaty  of,  25. 

96,  99,   lop;    Castlereagh   and,  Canning,  the  family  of,  i. 

101 ;  Canning  and,  122 ;  and  the  —  George,  father  of   the    Right 

Spanish  Revolution,   123,  126 ;  Hon.    George   Canning,    2,    3, 

and  the  Eastern  question,  144,  4,  5. 

145,  148,  150  (proposes  joint  in-  Canning,     George,      the     Right 

tervention),   152 ;  and    Francis  Hon.,      birth,      5  ;     and      his 

11.  at    Czernovitz,    153,   155  ;  mother,  6;  boyhood,  7,  8  (the 
death,  156,  157.  Microcosm);    "The  Slavery  of 

Angouleme,     Due     d',     invades  Greece,"  9,  10,   n ;  at  Oxford, 
Spain,  130.  12, 13, 14  ;  enters  Lincoln's  Inn, 
Anti-Jacobin,  the,  28.  14;    offered  a  seat   in    Parlia- 
Austerlitz,  battle  of,  60.  ment,  17;  and  the  French  Re- 
Austria      declares    war     against  volution,  18  ;  member  for  New- 
Napoleon,  75 ;  and  the  Spanish  port,     19  ;    first     speech,     19 ; 
Revolution    (see     Metternich),  character  of  his  eloquence,  20, 
124;    and    Portugal,    134,    139;  21,    22;    Under-Secretary    for 
and  Russia  in  the  East,  144, 146,  Foreign   Affairs,  23  ;    and    the 
150;  and  Greek  independence,  policy  of  Pitt,  25;  and  the  "mad- 
154.156,160,162,163.  ness"   of    France,    26;   speech 
on  the  motion  to  end  the  war, 
27 ;    the    A  nti-J acobin,  28 ;  on 

Bagot,    Sir    Charles,    Canning's  the    coup    d'itat    of    the    i8th 

rhymed  despatch  to,  170.  Brumaire,  35  ;  on  the  "  temper 

Bathurst,  Earl,  174.  and  practice  of  the  British  Con- 

Beresford,  Marshal,  131.  stitution,"    36,    91  ;    and      the 

Bering  Sea,  1 16.  Union  with   Ireland,   38,  etc.; 

Berlin  decrees,  the,  69.  and  the  Catholic  question,  42, 

Boringdon,  Lord  (Earl  of  Morley),  43,  87,  90,  112, 170  ;  resigns  with 

12,  19,  23,  26,  49.  Pitt,    47 ;     marriage,    48  ;    and 
Brazil,  Portuguese    royal  family  Addington,     49,     54  ;     speech 

leave  for,  74;  Pedro  proclaimed  on      the    Island    of     Trinidad 

Emperor  of,  131 ;  Conference  of  (Slave  Trade),  50 ;  member  for 

London  on,  134;  British  recog-  Tralee,   54;  urges    Pitt   to  re- 

nition  of,  135.  sume  office,  56 ;  Lord  Malmes- 

Brougham,  Lord,   on    Canning's  bury  on,  56;  attacks  the  Govern- 

style,  22,  91,  ment,    57  ;    Treasurer    of   the 


(181) 


182 


INDEX 


Navy,  58;  and  the  death  of 
Pitt,  60 ;  refuses  to  join  Fox's 
Ministry,  61  ;  epitaph  on  the 
"  Ministry  of  all  the  Talents," 
62  ;  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  64 ;  and  the  bombard- 
ment of  Copenhagen,  68  ;  and 
the  United  States,  71  ;  and 
Spain,  74,  76,  87 ;  quarrel  with 
Castlereagh,  77;  resigns,  79; 
and  the  Quarterly  Review,  80; 
on  the  Press,  81 ;  and  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  83 ;  "  Lines  ad- 
dressed to  Miss  Scott,"  84 ;  and 
the  Perceval  Administration, 
87 ;  and  the  Regency,  88 ;  refuses 
to  join  the  Liverpool  Adminis- 
tration, 90  ;  and  Free  Trade,  93, 
167,  169;  and  the  war,  94  ;  on 
Napoleon,  94;  ambassador  in 
Portugal,  96 ;  joins  the  Liver- 
pool Government,  97  ;  and  the 
Grand  Alliance,  101,  118,  119, 
121,  143,  144,  152 ;  and  parlia- 
mentary reform,  102,  112,  167; 
and  the  "  Six  Acts,"  103,  105  ; 
and  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  104  ; 
and  the  royal  divorce,  107,  108, 
109;  resigns,  109;  attitude  to- 
wards the  Liverpool  Govern- 
ment, no,  in  ;  and  Chateau- 
briand, 112;  accepts  Governor- 
Generalship  of  India,  112  ; 
offered  the  Foreign  Office,  114  ; 
last  speech  at  Liverpool,  115; 
and  Metternich,  118,  121,  146; 
and  British  foreign  policy,  119; 
and  "  national  "  politics,  122  ; 
and  the  Spanish  Revolution, 
124,128,129;  and  the  Spanish 
colonies,  125,  130,  135;  and 
Portugal,  133,  138-141  ;  and  the 
"  Monroe  doctrine,"  135  ;  and 
the  Eastern  question,  146,  164  ; 
and  Russian  intervention,  148; 
recognises  the  Greek  flag, 
150  ;  and  Russian  proposal 
for  autonomy,  153  ;  and 
European  intervention,  154 ; 
reopens  negotiations  with 
Russia,  155,  156,  158,  161  (sug- 
gests joint  mediation) ;  and  the 
Treaty  of  London,  163  ;  and 
the  Tories,  166,  170 ;  rhymed 
despatch  to  Bagot,  170 ;  motion 
to  relax  the  Corn  Laws,  171  ; 
Prime  Minister,  174 ;  last  speech 


in  Parliament,  175  ;  illness  and 
death,  176. 

Canning,  George  Charles,  epitaph 
by  Canning  on,  86. 

Canning,  Mrs.  George,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Hunn,  4,  5,  6. 

Canning,  Paul,  afterwards  Lord 
Garvagh,  4. 

Canning,  Stratford,  of  Garvagh, 
3,  3,  4. 

Canning,  Stratford,  father  of  Lord 
Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  7. 

Canning,  Stratford  (Lord  Strat- 
ford de  Redcliffe),  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, 155,  157. 

Cannynge,  Thomas,  2. 

—  William,  2. 

Capodistrias  (Capo  d'Istria), 
Count,  152. 

Carlsbad  decrees,  Castlereagh  and 
the,  101. 

Caroline,  Queen,  and  George  IV., 
106;  Canning  and,  107;  trial 
of,  108,  109,  no.  (See  also 
Wales,  Princess  of.) 

Castlereagh,  Viscount  (Marquis 
of  Londonderry),  65 ;  and  the 
Walcheren  expedition,  76 ; 
quarrel  with  Canning,  77  ;  Sec- 
retary for  Foreign  Affairs,  90, 
95,  96 ;  and  the  "  continental 
system,"  loo,  117,  119, 122,  135; 
and  international  disarmament, 
100 ;  and  Alexander  I.'s  ideal- 
ism, 101,  113;  death  of,  114  ; 
and  the  Spanish  colonies,  135 ; 
and  intervention  in  Turkey,  148. 

Cathcart,  Lord,  68. 

Catholic  Emancipation,  Canning 
and,  42,  43 ;  George  III.  and, 
46,  62  ;  Canning's  motion  on,  91. 

Charles,  Archduke,  34. 

Charles  IV.  of  Spain,  73. 

Charles  X.  of  France,  161. 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  76. 

Chesapeake,  affair  of  the,  71. 

Cintra,  Convention  of,  75. 
Constantinople,  murder  of  Gre- 

gorios,  Patriarch  of,  145. 
Corn  Laws,  102,  171,  174. 
Corunna,  battle  of,  75. 
Cuba,  British  force  landed  in,  126. 


Dalrymple,  Sir  Hugh,  75. 
Damas,  Baron  de,  163. 
Dudley,  Earl  of,  174, 


INDEX 


183 


Eastern  question,  117,  143  (War 
of  Greek  Independence) ;  Can- 
ning and,  146;  and  the  Grand 
Alliance,  151  ;  Conference  of 
St.  Petersburg  on,  153;  Con- 
ference of  London,  162 ;  Treaty 
of  London,  163. 

Eldon,  Lord  Chancellor,  64,  174, 

175- 

Erskine,  Lord,  33. 
Erskine,  Mr.,  mission  to  America, 

71. 


Falck.  170. 

Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain,  73,  123, 
128,  130. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  17,  18  ;  re- 
fuses Pitt's  overtures,  58;  suc- 
ceeds Pitt,  61 ;  and  abolition  of 
the  Slave  Trade,  61 ;  death, 
62. 

France,  Revolution  in,  15;  coali- 
tion against,  24  ;  the  Terror  in, 
24;  Treaty  of  Campo  Formic, 
25 ;  character  of  the  struggle 
against,  25 ;  Canning  and,  26  ; 
and  the  Spanish  Revolution, 
117, 124,  127, 128 ;  the  Etoile  and 
the  Irish  question,  121 ;  and  the 
Greek  question,  156,  162. 

Francis,  the  Emperor  of  Austria, 

153- 
Free  Trade,  93, 167,  169. 


157  ;  asks  for  British  mediation, 
161 ;  Treaty  of  London,  163. 
Grey,  Lord,  17,  62. 


Harrowby,  Lord,  60. 
Hobhouse  on  Canning,  21. 
Hofer,  Andreas,  76. 
Holy  Alliance,  the,  25  ;  and  the 

Grand   Alliance,   99;    Canning 

and,  in,  166;   Metternich  and, 

144;  Sultan  and,  145. 
Huskisson,  William,  88,  168,  169, 

170,  174. 
Hypsilanti,  Prince  Alexander,  145. 


Ibrahim  Pasha,  155,  157;  and  the 
depopulation  of  the  Morea, 
160;  the  Powers  and,  162. 

India,  Canning  and,  112. 

Ireland,  23  ;  Grattan's  Parlia- 
ment, 37 ;  Pitt's  policy  towards, 
37 ;  question  of  the  Union,  38  ; 
Act  of  Union,  46. 


John  VI.  of  Portugal,  131  ;  death 

of,  138. 
Joseph  Bonaparte,  King  of  Spain, 

73- 
Junot,   Marshal,  invades    Spain, 

73  ;  and  Portugal,  74  ;  defeated 

at  Vimiero,  75. 


George    III.,    madness     of,   87; 

death  of,  106. 
George  IV.,  87 ;  unpopularity  of, 

106 ;  and    Canning,    108,    114  ; 

and  the  "  continental  system," 

117,  171 ;  and  the  Tories,  173  ; 
commands   Canning  to  form  a 
Cabinet,  174. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of,  169. 
Gillray,  James,  81. 
Godoy,  Prince  of  the  Peace,  59. 
Grand  Alliance,  101;  Canning  and, 

118,  119,  121,  143,  144,  152. 
Grattan,  Henry,  37. 

"  Greece,  The  Slavery  of,"  9. 

—  insurrection  in,  117,  145;  Can- 
ning and  the  insurrection,  146; 
England  recognises  the  Greek 
flag,  151;  proposed  autonomy 
of,  153 ;  Ibrahim  Pasha  invades, 
155;  Conference  of  Perivolakia, 


1  Knife-grinder,  The  Needy,"  30. 


Laibach,  Canning  and  the  Con- 
gress of,  in,  145. 

Lamb,  Charles,  33. 

Lieven,  Prince,  on  Canning's  in- 
sularity, 143  ;  156;  158;  160;  162. 

Lisbon,  French  enter,  75  ;  Can- 
ning at,  96. 

Liverpool,  Canning's  election  at, 
91. 

Liverpool,  Earl  of,  12  ;  Secretary 
at  War,  87 ;  Administration  of, 
90;  foreign  policy  of,  98;  and 
the  Grand  Alliance,  99;  offers 
Canning  the  Foreign  Office, 
114 ;  and  the  "  Oregon  ques- 
tion," 136;  illness  of,  171,  174. 

London,  conference  opened  at, 
162  ;  Treaty  of,  163. 


184  INDEX 


Londonderry,   Marquis  of.     (See  Non-intervention,  the  doctrineiof, 

Castlereagh.)  25. 

Louis  XVIII.  and  Spain,  128.  Northumberland,  Duke  of,  173. 

Mackintosh  Sir  James,  33.  ..  Orders  in  Council,"  the,  70. 

Mahmoud  II.,  Sultan,  appeals   to  Oregon    question,   the,   Canning 

Mehemet  Ah,  155.  anj   I3g 
Malmesbury,  Earl  of,  on  Canning, 

56. 

Maria  da  Gloria,  Donna,  130.  ..  ,      „     ,_    , 

Marten,      Henry,      parody       of  £*  hnella,  M.  de,  132. 

Southey's  poem  on,  31.  Palmerston,  Vlscount)  I7f°'R174-., 

Mehemet     Ali,     intervenes     in  Pedro,  Dom,  Emperor  of  Brazil, 

Greece,  155.  ?3i  I   King    of   Portugal,    138  ; 

Melville,  Lord,  impeachment  of,  >ssues  a   Llberal  Constitution, 

alittMi&ch,  Prince,   Castlereagh  Peel>  Sir  R°bert'  "4,  W 

and,    101,   118;   and    Canning,  Perceval,   Spencer,  64;  Admims- 

118,  143;  and  Castlereagh,  119  ;  "atlon  °f'  87:  aand  the  Regent, 

and  English  opinion,  120;  and  D.!?  ;  gSSr*  **  3   ...      T, 

the   Spanish    Revolution,   123,  Pl"'   William,   and    the    French 

127;  and  the  Eastern  question,  Revolution,  17;  offers  Canning 

144,  145,  146,  148,  152,  153,  156,  a   s!iaV7'  22:  his  policy  to- 

jZZ     '  wards  France,  25,  26  ;  and   the 

Miguel,  Dom,  131,  132,  134,  140;  ?ec<?nd  coalition,   34  ;  and   Ire- 

Regent  of  Portugal,  142  land-   37,   45;  resigns,    47,    55, 

"  Monroe  doctrine/'  the,  135.  57  I    returns  to  office,  58  ;   last 

Montmorency,   M.    de,   117,   124,  Administration,   58  ;    and    the 

I27  third   coalition,  59;  death,  60; 

Morek,  insurrection   in   the,  145  ;  _  and  th.e  question  of  regency,  88. 

Ibrahim  lands  in  the,  155  ;  Ibra-  Ponsonby,  Lord,  139- 

him's  reputed  policy    towards,  Portland,  Duke  of,   4&  ,  ;   forms  a 

160;  Canning  suggests  the  in-  Government,  63  ;  and  Canning 

dependence  of,  161,  162.  and  Ca.st'ere?gh'   77  :   reM8n«- 

tion  and  death,  79. 

Portugal,  invaded  by  Junot,   74  ; 

Napoleon   I.,  25;  in  Egypt,  34;  Wellesley  lands   in,  75!    Con- 

coup  d-ttat  of  i8th  Brumaire,  yention  of  Cmtra,  75  ;  Welles- 

35  ;  and   the  peace  of  Amiens,  !eV  assumes  command  m,  76  ; 

57     proclaimed    Emperor,    59;  insurrection  in,  131,  132;  British 

plans  against   England,  59,  61  ;  "".?  rv«/}  tlona  ln.'  J33  !  death  of 

Treaty    of    Tilsit,  66;    United  J°hn  ^'l1^-  Mariada  Gloria, 

States  and,  69;  and   Portugal,  13.8  ;   Pedro  proclaims  a   Con- 

72;     and     Spain,    73,    75,    76;  stitution,  I39  ;    "  Apostohcal 

Canning's    "appreciation"    of,  rising,  140;    British  expedition 

94    07  t0'  ?4l- 

Navanno,  battle  of,  164.  Pri?ssla  and  tr]e  Spanis  h  Revolu- 

Nelson,   Viscount,   battle   of  the  tlon>  I24-  r»  l6°'  l62-  l63- 
Nile,  34;  Trafalgar,  60. 

Nesselrode,  Count,  55,  162,  163. 

Neuville,  M.  de,  132,  134.  "  Reciprocity  of  Duties  Act,"  169. 

Nicholas   I.,  Emperor  of  Russia,  Reform,   parliamentary,  Canning 

24;    accession,    156;    and    the  and,  102,  112,  167. 

Greek  question,  159,  161.  Revolution,  the  French,  15;  public 

Nile,  battle  of  the,  34.  opinion  and,  16;  Pitt  and,  17; 

"  Non-intercourse  Act,"  the,  70.  Canning  and,  18. 


INDEX 


185 


Ridgway,  publisher,  letter  of 
Canning  to,  103. 

Robinson,  168. 

Romanticism,  Canning  and,  83. 

Rush,  Mr.,  136. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  motion  for 
reform,  112. 

Russia  and  the  Bering  Sea,  116; 
effect  of  the  execution  of  the 
Orthodox  Patriarch  in,  145, 
146 ;  war  party  in  the  ascendant 
in,  152;  proposes  Greek  auto- 
nomy, 153  ;  death  of  Alexander 
I.  and  accession  of  Nicholas  I., 
156 ;  Protocol  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, 158  ;  ultimatum  to  Tur- 
key, 159;  Convention  of  Akker- 
mann,  159 ;  adheres  to  the 
Treaty  of  London,  162. 


Troppau,  Canning  and  the  Con- 
gress of,  in. 

Turkey,  Greek  insurrection,  117, 
145  ;  murder  of  the  Patriarch 
Gregprios,  145  ;  Canning  on 
Turkish  independence,  148 ; 
breach  with  Russia,  149,  150 ; 
England  recognises  Greek 
belligerency,  150 ;  Russian  ulti- 
matum to,  159;  Convention  of 
Akkermann,  159  ;  Treaty  of 
London,  163 ;  battle  of  Nava- 
rino,  164. 


Union,  Act  of,  46. 

United    States    and    the    Berlin 

decrees,    69  ;     the    "  Monroe 

doctrine,"  135,  136. 


St.  Petersburg,  Conference  of,i53, 
157 >  Protocol  of,  158,  161  (be- 
comes Treaty  of  London),  163. 

Schill,  Colonel,  76. 

Scott,  Miss  Joan  (Mrs.  Canning), 
48;  "  Lines  addressed  to,"  84. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  83. 

Sheridan,  3,  17,  18  ;  and  the 
Union  with  Ireland,  40. 

South  America,  Spanish  colonies 
in,  125,  126,  130,  135,  136,  137; 
England  recognises  the  inde- 
pendence of,  138. 

Southey,  Canning's  parodies  of, 
30- 

Spain,  Napoleon  and,  73 ;  Can 
ning  and  the  national  rising  in, 
74;  expedition  of  Sir  John 
Moore,  75  ;  revolution  in,  116, 
123;  question  of  the  colonies, 
125 ;  French  invasion  of,  130 ; 
reaction  in,  130. 

Strangford,  Lord,  150. 

Stuart,  Sir  Charles,  139. 

Subserra,  M.  de,  134. 

Suvoroff,  General,  34. 


Tilsit,  Treaty  of,  66. 
Trafalgar,  battle  of,  60. 
Trinidad,  speech  on  the  island  of, 
50. 


Vansittart    (Lord    Bexley),    168, 

174. 
Verona,    Congress    of,   116,   118, 

124,  126,  143,  146. 
Villele,  Jean  Baptiste,  Comte  de, 

122,  123  ;  and  Spain,  127,  128. 


Wales,  Caroline,  Princess  of 
(wife  of  George  IV.),  83  ;  Can- 
ning and,  88.  (See  also  Caro- 
line, Queen.) 

Wellesley,  the  Marquis,  87,  89. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  65 ;  lands 
in  Portugal,  75  ;  assumes  com- 
mand in  Portugal,  76 ;  vote  of 
thanks  to,  94;  at  Verona,  118, 
124,  125  ;  and  Spain,  128  ; 
mission  to  St.  Petersburg,  158, 
1 60 ;  and  the  Treaty  of  London, 
163  ;  and  Canning's  policy,  166 ; 
opposes  Canning's  Corn  Bill, 
172 ;  refuses  to  serve  under 
Canning,  173,  174. 

Westmorland,  Earl  of,  174. 

Wood,  Alderman,  and  Queen 
Caroline,  107. 


Yorke,  Charles,  60. 


12* 


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